MasterCornholio
Member
Just curious was there some proof of that?
Just wondering if this is just speculation or if there's actual proof of this.
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Microsoft / Activision deal prevented to protect innovation and choice in cloud gaming
- Thread starter bitbydeath
- Start date
- News
Just curious was there some proof of that?
Just wondering if this is just speculation or if there's actual proof of this.
MasterCornholio
Member
They had their chance with that. And I'm guessing they passed up on a lot of other things that could have been very beneficial to them. I personally don't believe they are looking in the right place.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
The good thing with business is people move on and new hires can happen, also businesses can pivot. Just because they missed something doesn't mean they can't turn things around.
I'm just hoping we have some surprises for June.
There is a lot Microsoft xould do to reshape the messaging in the short term.
MasterCornholio
Member
Just to add to your comment about marketing deals and timed exclusives. They had issues getting them before. Now with the recent numbers I'm guessing it might be more difficult for them to get those deals. They should have done it in the beginning of then when the Series had an extremely positive outlook.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
There is almost zero chance that someone is being paid by MS to post here.
MasterCornholio
Member
I think he's just like the Sage guy. Just extremely invested in the brand.
MasterCornholio
Member
Let's set one thing straight since people are getting confused.
Block =/= Protecting Sony
Block = Concerns over the cloud market.
It's that simple.
Block =/= Protecting Sony
Block = Concerns over the cloud market.
It's that simple.
No but Nvidia isn't a threat to their platforms. They are hurting specific platform competitors with these acquisitions. They are strengthening the platforms they operate, xbox, windows, gamepass. Their remedies weren't offered for real competitors of those.
It's not a nothing burger when you're talking about competition concerns.
MS has 3 platforms it's trying to give an advantage to and protect. Windows, gamepass (multigame subscriptions /xcloud/mtx), xbox. Nvidia is a possible threat to xbox, it may be a possible threat to xcloud but xcloud itself isn't the moneymaker. It isn't a threat to gamepass or its mtx and it isn't a threat to windows, it's a boost to both.
Frankly I believe MS ultimately don't see consoles as their main strategy but just another point of entry for gamepass. Only PS is their main concern there and they don't see Geforce Now as a threat to it.
MS see a future where gamepass dominates on any devices. Where they have most of the publisher power through acquisitions and third parties are paying them a percentage for mtx through that platform. They don't see money in the devices but money in the subscription and mtx. If they have power over that then it doesn't matter to them on other platforms.
They don't see Nvidia Now being a threat to their subscription because it's still the $70 buy your own game model and nvidia are getting no percentage for mtxs which would still 100% go to MS. It's not really a store or content subscription competitor. Not only that but it is still using windows so they get that revenue from nvidia too during MS' transition to subscription based platform, which they plan to dominate. They could even allow gamepass through nvidia now hosting where nvidia are footing the equivalent xcloud bill through their subscribers and MS still get their $9.99 and mtx on top. Subscribe for gamepass and Nvidia now separately and play PC gamepass games via Nvidia Now.
MS should have concentrated on deals that alleviated the CMAs concerns for competition in multigame subscriptions and cloud gaming providers (in particular OS). Instead they just made deals with cloud providers which were actually ultimately just MS customers. The CMA had mentioned the main concerns already too in phase 1.
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Edmund
Member
Who is that you're referring to? Just curious.
Badlucktroll
Member
I wonder if they had a giant Activision Blizzard segment of their June showcase, and now have to go back to the drawing board.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
This is where I think it will cost them more, but they have a big load of bank. But, then again...it looks more and more like consoles are becoming less of a focus for them. Their revenue and what looks like profits are the highest they have been for Xbox.. Maybe they are comfortable with where they are sales wise for the releases they have put out.
They seem to be making money hand over fist from their PC ports.
Unlikely, Sony will have to market COD at their showcases both this year and in 2024 I think.
Diablo 4 is out before the June showcase, I don't think there's much left to be considered a big Activision/Blizzard segment, although if they were planning to make some kind of generic "welcome to the family" reel now they have to discard it.
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MasterCornholio
Member
I don't believe they are celebrating their hardware sales though. They still care about them a lot which is why they have the Series Combo.
Bernardougf
Gold Member
I guess mods could take notes of some accounts that were shilling 24/7 until the blocked deal and just disappeared ... its pretty obvious they are ALT of the usual banned suspects or just paid PR bots ...
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Where are these companies to make these deals with that have a cloud platform where you buy the game on their cloud storefront? They don't exist because it is a dead end market without non-cloud access on PC or console.
You don't necessarily need to buy the games on their cloud platform but the obvious one that died which did this was Stadia which the CMA used in their findings. I was referring more to multigame subscriptions though like Blacknut, Amazon Luna, PS+ Premium, etc. MS themselves see the likes of Google and Amazon as competitors there, not ones renting out windows PCs and have no interest in platform margins on sales like they do with theirs.
ZoukGalaxy
Member
.............
...........
BbMajor7th
Member
It's rarely about up front payments, PlayStation is already a far bigger platform with much stronger marketing performance in recent years. If you want to make co-marketing deals with a platform holder and you know you'll have to offer exclusivity to secure it, you want the ones with biggest platform and the best marketing.
If it was really about upfront payouts, publishers would just flog games wholesale to the highest bidder. It's not, they want to build successful IP that they continue to monetize over longer periods.
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DryvBy
Member
So MS is now blocked from the deal by CMA for 10 years it seems. What do we argue now? If Phil is going to actually have to manage his teams correctly?
mejin
Member
Sony is making just the usual partnerships that everyone does, MS and Nintendo included.
More and more games are skiping Xbox for not being a good investiment for them. Zero Sony money, It is what It is.
Sleepwalker
Member
He is now endorsing movement for MS to leave UK and talking shit about gaf, Truly lost the plot.
GHound
Member
We finally found a 10 year deal the CMA deemed to be adequate.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
demigod
Member
Actual work, are you kiddin me? Dude does nothing but interviews.
Jerm411
Member
How this idiotic moron has ANY sort of traction on social media or in the gaming sphere is one of the world’s greatest mysteries….and that’s saying something when you dig into idiotic morons in the gaming sphere.
MasterCornholio
Member
So I've been reading all these claims that the CMA is delusional and irrational.
Has anyone really made a well thought out argument that supports that?
I'm thinking like something constructed with data that proves the CMA wrong. Not just claims of them being crazy or protecting Sony.
Has anyone really made a well thought out argument that supports that?
I'm thinking like something constructed with data that proves the CMA wrong. Not just claims of them being crazy or protecting Sony.
Zheph
Member
Mostly nonsense so far
Daneel Elijah
Gold Member
The only way for the appeal to work is for the CMA to have acted irrationnally, and/or with procedural failure. Microsoft said they want to appeal. So the CMA is irrational.CQFD.
Sony did the same when the CMA abandonned some of their claims a few weeks a go. They said that the CMA was irrational.
Microsoft can't back up their claims because they need to see what the CAT will say to them first. So we will have the usual"i am confident that it will work out" as soon as the procedure is on and the CAT got to work on the case. I see this case now like the Airbus/ emirates case. Even if Microsoft have reasons to be unhappy they failed to act respecfull enough of the CMA autority. This my way or the highway path they are doing will harm them for the future of this merger. Hope that the EU said no too, to see if this will calm them or if they will go even more crazy.
RCU005
Member
I don’t get Microsoft’s insistence on this deal. Xbox is not even worth it for them. It makes so little money when compared to Windows, Office and Azure. They are spending like 20 times more what Xbox earns into a brand that they haven’t been able to manage correctly for years.
Why do people get offended when others suggest that they should become a third party publisher? Change management, change the dynamic of the teams, and perhaps be a support for other platforms to make cloud relevant (Like how Valve is for gaming PC).
Phil Spencer is just talk. He loves to say what people want to hear, but he has never been true to his word. Greenberg and Major Nelson are like politicians that just want to seem cool. They really have a horrible management team.
And I don’t know how people still have confidence in them when they make conscious decisions that screw their fans over. I’ll never get over the whole red ring of death, and how they were warned many times but still didn’t care and still launched the 360 just to beat Sony, and then kept lying to the costumers until everything blew on their faces and had no choice. Had they found a way to get away with it, they would’ve. (Which sadly, that’s how Nintendo is surviving the whole Joy-Con fiasco. They are getting away with it, somehow).
Why do people get offended when others suggest that they should become a third party publisher? Change management, change the dynamic of the teams, and perhaps be a support for other platforms to make cloud relevant (Like how Valve is for gaming PC).
Phil Spencer is just talk. He loves to say what people want to hear, but he has never been true to his word. Greenberg and Major Nelson are like politicians that just want to seem cool. They really have a horrible management team.
And I don’t know how people still have confidence in them when they make conscious decisions that screw their fans over. I’ll never get over the whole red ring of death, and how they were warned many times but still didn’t care and still launched the 360 just to beat Sony, and then kept lying to the costumers until everything blew on their faces and had no choice. Had they found a way to get away with it, they would’ve. (Which sadly, that’s how Nintendo is surviving the whole Joy-Con fiasco. They are getting away with it, somehow).
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Cyberpunkd
Member
It’s bizarre how much they are pushing the Xbox brand. I get the pitch 20 years ago was ‘let’s capture the living room’ but the world has changed so much with Netflix and Smart TVs.
Duchess
Member
I recall reading on Gamespot or other website back before the original Xbox launch around 2000 that MS "didn't expect to be on top right away, but would eventually get there."
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
The definitely feel it's important to have an offering in the console space for sure.
So what you are telling me is that the market and its offers for third party support only favour the market leader so there is no way for a smaller competition to play on a level field....think how crazy that sounds, there's no denying the entire business model and how it operates is broken.
MS, have great hardware an excellent service and look to be on the road to releasing games after one abysmal year of releasing nothing.
Just think, by the looks of it...the largest market share, industry leading entrent is releasing one gsme this year in spider man 2.....what we know of....so without third party content they would release one game. That's pretty wild.
Microsoft has to be able to secure third party deals, and something should be set up to allow them to do so.
I think they can, it may just cost more at first...and they should invest in those opportunities. Imo.
What I do find entertaining is so many users say Microsoft should go out and secure third party content like Sony do, then a majority turn around and say they can't do it....so what are they supposed to do outside of excellent hardware, great services and ( hopefully) finally releasing a robust varied first party release schedule.
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ToTTenTranz
Banned
It's ok. Microsoft's been signing 10 year deals everywhere. This is just one more
Astray
Gold Member
It's how the ecosystem market works, go look up iPhone covers and compare your options to say, the options you have for Samsung Galaxy series. There's simply no comparison.
Independent operators tend to favor the market with the greater adoption rate, and Xbox sadly lost that race ages ago.
3liteDragon
Member
My highlights from the highlights post from Idas at Era. All from the CMA's final findings on ABK-MS.
10-year deals raising more questions due to concerning clauses in the contracts from MS.
Pretty sure they're talking about Xbox consoles here.
Full post from Idas.
BbMajor7th
Member
Sony we're in the same position in the seventh generation. All the big third parties were partnering with MS and most games ran quite a bit better on the 360. It was rough, but over the course of a generation they righted the ship and came back in the eighth gen (he's rarely mentioned here, but Andy House was the mastermind of that). MS had the opportunity to do the same at the outset of the ninth, to get their IP in order, create some generation-defining buzz around new exclusives and take back mindshare from the competition. They completely failed to do that, and having struggled to effectively manage the studios they do have, were looking to buy dozens more.
MS has been on a losing streak ever since Phil took the reigns - you can't accuse one side of being some unstoppable juggernaut when the other struggles to put it's shoes on the right feet most mornings.
The industry needs healthy competition - badly. MS need to go back to square one and make a fresh committment the basic premise of this industry: selling great games and hardware to people who are passionate about them. Instead of wasting time and money on wild stunts like ABK (that do significant damage to the brand), take that outstanding stable of talented studios and give them everything they need to create a genre defining series of games. They have the hardware, they have studios and they have the capital: all they lack is the leadership.
Liar. He also play games for 20 hours a week.
StealthGoblin
Banned
Though cloud is a nascent market, if we end up in a position where the CMA has to review it’s decision in 1-3 years (if there is a successful appeal on the unlikely basis of due diligence) then it means that Microsoft can’t make any serious inroads with cloud in that time or they’ll be playing into the CMAs hands.
On the other foot, Sony can’t go and grab a load of cloud marketshare either as then that could tip things the other way.
I honestly think cloud gaming will be very lucrative in future and Microsoft are best placed to dominate that space even without ABK. It may be better to cut their losses and just build their cloud ambitions without fear of regulation based on an acquisition.
They are the only cloud competitor that has an established, huge network that is bankrolled by another area of the company, a lot of studios and IP to attract consumers, and the vast majority of the development environment occurs on their OS.
ABK would have accelerated those ambitions, but given Google have dropped out, Meta are fumbling and Amazon’s marketshare is poor - do they really need to artificially accelerate?
None of their competitors have every part of the path to success lined up or readily available like Microsoft.
On the other foot, Sony can’t go and grab a load of cloud marketshare either as then that could tip things the other way.
I honestly think cloud gaming will be very lucrative in future and Microsoft are best placed to dominate that space even without ABK. It may be better to cut their losses and just build their cloud ambitions without fear of regulation based on an acquisition.
They are the only cloud competitor that has an established, huge network that is bankrolled by another area of the company, a lot of studios and IP to attract consumers, and the vast majority of the development environment occurs on their OS.
ABK would have accelerated those ambitions, but given Google have dropped out, Meta are fumbling and Amazon’s marketshare is poor - do they really need to artificially accelerate?
None of their competitors have every part of the path to success lined up or readily available like Microsoft.
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Cyberpunkd
Member
Simple - nobody gives a shot about gaming media, there are better career opportunities anywhere else. So who’s left?
Flutta
Banned
mejin
Member
He's not the only one. MS is the only that put those kind of people in their payroll. It's not about money, but benefits so they continue to spread FUD. There is a reason Sony and Nintendo don't pay for this kind of shit behaviour. Someday MS will learn.
Facism
Member
The old saying goes "shit attracts flies"
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
It's all retarded fanatic rabble.
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YeulEmeralda
Member
Americans are just surprised that corporations don't automatically get their way.
Captain Toad
Banned
Well that's a stupid reason.
solidus12
Member
I recall reading that they wanted to sell 200 million Xbox One before that generation started.
Shut0wen
Member
Sorry for late reply but MS can appeal, anyone can appeal any decision, since my post ms is already handing out 10 year contracts to other cloud based companys so we'll see
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