#Xbox / Activision Acquisition Discussion

1 messages · Page 6 of 1

serene thistle
#

Yeah. This hasnt been very active since the ftc withdrew their challenge

#

Probably be active next week monday or tuesday

quiet ice
#

yeah next week monday sounds about right

#

since I remember the CMA saying they would look at any new proposals as soon as "the week starting august 7th"

rain escarp
#

so yeah reading through that document, Microsoft have put forward the Cloud 10 year, Sony Agreement, how Google considered Cloud being competition against Consoles and PC, looks like CMA gets nothing and Microsoft arent going to divest to EE or whatever was said couple weeks back.

valid axle
#

There will be more that isn't the deal

#

important to resd the comments not the headline

rain escarp
#

I read all of it and looked at Florians 33 tweets about it

valid axle
rain escarp
#

there are 2 documents in that main tweet

valid axle
#

Yeah

#

I wouldn't rule out them divesting still though personally

serene thistle
#

Just at least have the option opened

mystic salmon
#

so basically if xbox buys activision, cod games will be available in cloud gaming ?

valid axle
#

yes

#

they signed a 10 year deal with various cloud gaming providers though out the world

serene thistle
#

If u talking about game pass cloud gaming then not right away

valid axle
#

the 10 year deal means they have too put it on cloud gaming when the deal closes.

rain escarp
#

Microsoft have already started putting their games into Geforce Now and Boosteroid

serene thistle
rain escarp
#

we dont know what happens with that one, have to wait and see when the deal goes through. everything was redacted from the Sony agreement

valid axle
#

Sony agreement ends in October with code 2024 10 years all that gives sony is marketing rights

foggy matrix
#

was it Marketing Rights?

kind crown
#

Hmm so probably just before the cod game next year then

foggy matrix
#

I don't think it was marketing rights

#

pretty sure it was just a notarized commitment for Call of Duty, at parity, day and date on Playstation. but ofc it's hard to say past what was officially stated

#

no way MS would give marketing rights over though. especially since that's one of the tentpole franchises under Activision

#

seeing the xbox logo next to cod marketing

#

I just believe it's the similar deal the other companies signed

valid axle
foggy matrix
#

yeah. currently they have marketing rights and some exclusive items

#

I read it as they renewed the 10 year one as also having Marketing rights

#

which no way MS would do

valid axle
#

no lol

foggy matrix
#

10 years all that gives sony is marketing rights

#

this bit confused me lol

proven sonnet
#

just woke up with news that microsoft sent their final submission of the acquisition to the CMA, any other news regarding this?

silk turtle
#

Nothing has been mentioned here, so probably not.

cursive bough
#

Let's just hope it succeeds this time

serene thistle
#

We wont know til next week

rain escarp
#

yeah CMA are giving people the opportunity to submit if anyone dont like the changes Microsoft posted which is 4th August, but yeah definitely gonna get some news next week

#

Microsoft have other plans in place but these changes are pretty much the ones from EU remedies, Sony Agreements and things that came out of the FTC court 5 day hearing.

serene thistle
#

Didnt cma ask the public what they thought on the acquisition?

rain escarp
#

thats not happened yet,

#

should go quick most the people already know the case already

#

deadline is still 29th

rain escarp
valid axle
#

hum that isnt what the Hario person said

rain escarp
#

Hasbro said Activision didnt know what Hard Drive the games were stored on.

serene thistle
#

Lol

valid axle
#

Hasbro yeah

rain escarp
#

they were asked the question at Comic-Con, but they want to bring them back

serene thistle
#

I never got into playing those transformers games

drifting valley
#

Go find them or make it from scratch

#

Because why not

hallow valley
#

Well now I’m confused

valid axle
hallow valley
#

Huh?

valid axle
#

exactky you never finished

hallow valley
#

That was a full sentence

#

In response to the situation with the Transformers games

#

Apparently not being lost

rain escarp
#

"To clarify, comments that suggest Transformers games have been lost were made in error. We apologize to Activision and regret any confusion...."

hallow valley
#

Who said that?

rain escarp
#

Hasbro

hallow valley
#

When and where?

rain escarp
hallow valley
#

Well this is confusing, why have the games not been brought back if Hasbro apparently wants them back?

rain escarp
#

because it all started that during comic-con was it few weeks ago, Hasbro had a Q&A session and got asked if Transformers was coming back, they answered something along the lines of Activision didnt know which hard drive the games were stored on and wanted the games to come back

hallow valley
#

Yeah I’m well aware of that part

rain escarp
#

Highmoon made them right, they been a Cod support studio for a long time

valid axle
#

apparently wanting them back and wanting them back arent the same

#

I hope thy do though

hallow valley
#

Just cause High Moon is a COD studio doesn’t mean they can’t just repost the games on the stores and reactivate the servers

#

After they get the rights form Hasbro again

valid axle
#

No one said they had the rights

#

Hasbro just said they would like too see the games back but Activision isnt sure on what drive they are on saying they may be lost. But Activision said today they are not lost or were

rain escarp
#

yeah loads of misinformation dropped

valid axle
#

If it was as simple as just releasing the game and turning on servers then every single game would be coming back. Everyone wants there game out there but its not always possable for many reasons. Some of theose reasons maybe easy overcome others not

#

this is Microsoft going though Activision archive to find classic games for back compat and gamepass.

sly kiln
#

More back compat and Game Pass stuff is always awesome to see

wooden rapids
#

more back-compat would be excellent but i feel xbox will keep their word on the previous wave being the final one

stoic sparrow
#

The transformers Games are a reason why I think delisting games is a frustrating move

#

Ik why it happens and ik the main reasons are licensing and copyright but still mildly annoying

foggy matrix
#

there's a legend of korra game that platinum games developed (it's ok) that was delisted

hallow valley
#

Iirc that game you earn all the achievements in the very first level

#

But yeah, the Transformers games need to be saved… least so I can get the remaining achievements from multiplayer that 7 year old me was too bad at the game to get

#

I cannot believe i never played Transformers again after playing The Lego Movie Video Game

kind crown
nocturne vine
#

Pls bring back ANY old Activision game!
I would absolutely go BONKERS to play Spiderman 2 Xbox (The old one) on Xbox Series X.

lament wigeon
#

Facts. Bruce Campbell Spiderman (2002) > no Bruce Campbell Spiderman (2018).

kind crown
#

Yeah I got 100% for Spider-Man 2 on OG Xbox. That was a blast

nocturne vine
#

If they release a lot of those games again with the support of Microsoft... Then I think we are in for a treat.

lofty marlin
#

and a treacle.

serene thistle
#

Remember activision had all those chessy movie adaption games

drifting valley
drifting valley
pure haven
#

Any update on the acquisition? Besides the Transformers thing

serene thistle
#

Any big updates start next week on acquisition

rain escarp
#

yeah CMA said we could get a provisional view on how the deal is going, dont know if Microsoft need to divest but will know that this month and it should be finally over with on the 29th or before as their Inquiry group and CMA did say to CAT they would be quick with it.

serene thistle
#

Divest im assuming giving ee or some other companies control over some aspects of xcloud

rain escarp
#

yeah

serene thistle
#

Nz will make a decision next week as well

rain escarp
#

yeah 8th unless that changes again but I dont think so

serene thistle
#

Cloud gaming is big but isnt as big like how cma makes it sound

#

Or am i wrong

rain escarp
#

not big when UK is only 5K users that came out from their documents

#

not many use it, most the time its used for Rewards every week so atleast we dont have to install a game everytime.. but with the new info from FTC where Google said they competed with Consoles and PC for Stadia, Microsoft may not need to do anything with divesting.

serene thistle
#

That not much compared to uk population of around 70 million people

rain escarp
#

but Microsoft are making sure they have a new deal in place incase CMA dont take those changes what were posted already

serene thistle
#

Yeah next week and this month is very exciting

rain escarp
#

Gamescom end of this month, imagine its done and they announce it there

serene thistle
#

True

#

Cloud isnt the same as mobile gaming right?

rain escarp
#

no Mobile is still native as you downloading games. Cloud is streaming

pure haven
#

Cloud gaming would be much bigger if there was a way to reduce to latency even more

#

That'll take time though

#

I did beat Firewatch exclusively on cloud when it was on Gamepass and that was pretty dope

serene thistle
#

Well they need to add more datacenters to be better

drifting valley
pure haven
#

What does the CMA want exactly?

serene thistle
#

Cloud gaming is their issue

pure haven
#

What is their issue with cloud gaming?

rain escarp
#

CMA blocked over Cloud issues, but then a month later EU gave their remedies which included. worldwide support for Cloud, free streaming keys to any Cloud Platform of their choice but the main ones were Boosteroid, Geforce Now, N-ware, Ubitus and there is another.

#

CMA thinks that in the future Microsoft could control who gets access to their content. and didnt want to enforce to make sure that they are following their contracts.. but EU remedies included they would appoint someone to do that.

pure haven
#

Sounds fair enough tbh

#

The remedies that is

rain escarp
#

with them going to the Tribunal was it July, Microsoft have put forward the new information to CMA because they didnt have it before. it also included the 10 yr Sony agreement that was signed. if CMA dont agree to that.. Microsoft have the divest Cloud as a backup

#

Microsoft have already started putting some of their content in the cloud for these different providers

proven sonnet
rain escarp
#

Boosteroid got, Ghostwire Tokyo, Grounded Pentiment and Gears 5, same games on Geforce Now.. but they just announced Bethesda titles coming. which were Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake for this month

drifting valley
mystic salmon
#

i need news ahhh
im going crazy
i havent sleep for 5 days about the purchase !!!
i can't hold it anymore

silk turtle
#

The deal deadline has been postponed until October, so I suggest you sleep.

wanton harness
#

Imagine not sleeping because of video games.. Are you just not going to sleep for three years? Cuz I can guarantee that's about how long it will be until COD is even on Game Pass anyway. lol

drifting valley
silk turtle
#

This isn't new news.

drifting valley
#

I thought the deadline was this month 🥲

silk turtle
#

It was, but they would have had to pay 3 billion if they didn't close. Although they can close, they want to do it with approval from the CMA to avoid complications in the UK, so decided to delay the deadline to get a better overall outcome.

drifting valley
#

Ah okay

balmy thorn
silk turtle
#

I'll let you know on August 8th

oblique halo
#

So cma doing something the 8th?

balmy thorn
#

Yeah

balmy thorn
oblique halo
#

Just fold your case for the love of everything let it end

balmy thorn
oblique halo
#

😭

#

It's the year 2035 ps7 and xbox series X3 are out

CMA still thinking about remedies

proven sonnet
kind crown
oblique halo
drifting valley
#

Hi

rain escarp
#

yes CMA are supposed to be giving more info about a provisional view on how the deal is going from the information that Microsoft gave. and its happening this week. CMA have a deadline for the final decision on 29th so its gonna be over this month. October was just a backup date if things drag out longer than needed

drifting valley
drifting valley
kind crown
#

But who knows lol

serene thistle
#

its just too early about that now we didnt even reach the half life of the console yet let alone the series x refresh aka xb1x for series

rain escarp
#

so we going for Series X2 like X-Men sequels now lol

kind crown
#

I mean it sounds better than Xbox One X2 lol

#

If they did that

#

Then just keep the S and X as performance tiers

serene thistle
#

i heard it takes more time to make games playable at good res and framerate on series s

balmy thorn
#

Xbox Series Z

woeful siren
drifting valley
mystic salmon
oblique halo
serene thistle
#

the next 48-72 hours would be exciting with cma prelim decision and nz decision

balmy thorn
serene thistle
#

Any news with nz or cma decision today?

winged cosmos
#

If you see nothing posted then there is none yet

swift flume
valid axle
#

Nz arent doing anything with it not atm anyhow

rain escarp
#

NZ deadline was 8th so tomorrow

serene thistle
#

I thought it was today for some reason

rain escarp
#

well yeah maybe timezones but its all quiet

valid axle
#

Nz deadline is this week but they not doing anything with it. There awaiting for the CMA

#

CMA deadline isn't till the 29 Aug but they expected too give an update this week. ( Doesnt mean they will though)

nocturne vine
#

NZ will probably give their two cents in around 9-12 hours.

marble root
#

NZ approved the deal

proven sonnet
#

now we wait for CMA's preliminary decision

lament wigeon
#

Excellent!

wooden rapids
#

goodie

prisma tinsel
#

Nice

rain escarp
#

cool, hopefully this should be a fast decision from CMA

nocturne vine
#

Ah so suddenly they draw the ‘oh it’s not a must have’ card lol

swift flume
#

CMA being their typical self, will not release anything until the deadline 🙄

nocturne vine
#

CMA is at least the ones who are doing their homework right compared to FTC. So give them some time.

serene thistle
#

So cma dont have to release their prelim decision today?

nocturne vine
#

They will do it on the last day or a few days before that.

balmy thorn
#

I found this from a popular source on July 30th:

#

News from the EU Commission: #ActivisionBlizzard games after the deal ends may not be available on other cloud providers, but will be available on a Game Pass Ultimate subscription that accounts for 70-80% of all game pass subscribers

#

This doesn't apply to cod, of course

#

So what does the 70 - 80% part mean?

lament wigeon
#

I think it means Ultimate accounts for 80% of all Game Pass subscriptions.

serene thistle
#

I was about to say the same thing.

#

Wasnt activision the company that produced those soso made from movie games like thor captain america and green lantern

balmy thorn
lament wigeon
#

What part is confusing you?

balmy thorn
#

I think you mean 80% of game pass accounts have ultimate

#

Am I correct?

lament wigeon
#

That's exactly what I said.

balmy thorn
#

Yeah why does that matter with ABK

lament wigeon
#

¯_(ツ)_/¯

balmy thorn
#

Did the CMA decide the preliminary decision?

#

And will they even decide this week?

rain escarp
#

CMA themselves were the ones who said, they could have something ready by this week. never gave a date just said week starting 7th August. not sure how everyone came to an 8th August date. there are still more things to get done. and it was their inquiry group which also said they would be faster than 29th

swift flume
#

I'm telling you, CMA will do their typical ways and not release anything until the 29th

valid axle
#

well since they opening up too public comments that would be diffcult since thats the deadline date.

narrow talon
#

A public version of the UK testimony to stay the appeal was published.
Publish date was July 20

valid axle
#

yeah, no but its here

rain escarp
#

yeah Foss is on another spaces

nocturne vine
#

Can’t read it rn. What does it mean?

rain escarp
#

just that document from couple weeks ago that most of us went through. this is the one Microsoft put in going over the changes that didnt include the divest.. CMA are gonna talk about that this week Florian is saying.

nocturne vine
#

Ahhh thank you

rain escarp
#

so basically says CMA gonna publish their provisional views this week, then theres gonna be another 7 day comment period

nocturne vine
#

Well let’s see how it goes. Seems like they have some negatives again

mystic salmon
#

i'm lost, what's going on this day with cma right now ?
there's so much misinformation on internet aswell

rain escarp
#

nothing just the same document posted again from weeks back

#

this week would be initial ruling where MS latest submission that they gave, from Sony deal, Cloud agreements, EU remedies and US court.. thats the goal for CMA

#

its all in that document above on their website

serene thistle
#

I guess its all a waiting game this week

rain escarp
#

yeah. and next week too seeing as there will be a 7 day commenting period

#

Florian who is on spaces still believes it will be done by Gamescom which starts on the 23rd-27th

serene thistle
#

What is a 7 day commenting period?

rain escarp
#

likely for MS and others to comment

#

or if someone doesnt agree. like that 4th August but they were for Stakeholders

valid axle
#

the commenting is also public

valid axle
#

only if anyone brings up something in the upcoming 7 days commenting period will it likely not go though by Gamescom. then they work on Divesting possibly witch will take into September but seems like they can move quite fast if need be. Seems Microsoft are pushing these changes means a big differance too the deal and they do

#

The main concern of the CMA was cloud how it would be a nightmare for the CMA to monitor or basically make sure microsoft kept its word. The EC thing with that UK law firm takes that all away. The CMA will not have to do much work if any

rain escarp
#

yeah N-Ware I wondered what region they were in

serene thistle
rain escarp
#

EU already had worldwide commitments so its covered anyway

valid axle
#

exactly its a UK firm they dont even have office in the EU so funny. But yeah its WW

#

Apparently alot of the commitment's around cloud mean nothing in US law i not sure how true that is. Its like asking a UK lawyer to to make a ruling on US law. So there will be have to be something.

serene thistle
#

True. It took my uncle years to become a licensed lawyer

valid axle
#

I dont think it matters too Much the FTC were not the one saying it be a nightmare to manage this was a CMA concern and EC. The FTC case was just about COD and how it effect sales on console (PlayStation) ,

serene thistle
#

Is cloud gaming still in its infancy atm as a industry?

valid axle
#

by infancy you mean early stages? I would say so yeah very much so.

#

thats the concern of the CMA as there is a market but at the same time there isnt really a market because its new. So someone like Microsoft can come in and take it and have a head start.

#

Basically the EC thing is something the EU wanted as they didnt want too be checking in all the time to make sure microsoft is doing what it said it would. so Microsoft agreed. The CMA then blocked the deal saying it would be too time consuming so Microsoft as said its happy too have the EC clause WW. But in therory it means nothing in the US.

drifting valley
oblique halo
#

I tried some cloud earlier and couldn't get on its full lol

Yeah I doubt it will ever be a main source of gaming if you are in a queue

drifting valley
oblique halo
#

Both interesting methods but nothing will beat the system natively

serene thistle
#

agreed

drifting valley
serene thistle
#

but vr also depends on the person if they get motion sickness or not when using vr

nocturne vine
#

I like cloud. It’s good for a small session of a game that is A. Not graphically pretty B. Doesn’t demand high reflexes and C. Isn’t installed on my system.
I do play Flight sim and Forza Horizon 4 and 5 mainly with cloud cause I usually just do a few things instead of long sessions. Like claiming a barbie car, doing some vip spins and then race 1-3 rounds

kind crown
#

I use it to try out some games before deciding to download sometimes

mystic salmon
#

i use it because i'm too broke to afford a console

swift flume
#

Any news?

winged cosmos
#

no

cursive bough
#

If they finally approve it in the UK, I'm gonna have a dance party

wanton harness
swift flume
marble root
rain escarp
#

exactly why I used the Cloud for that

winged dawn
#

I think Microsoft may go after a smaller studio to avoid seeming like they're creating a monopoly

#

for example if they went for Ubisoft right after ActiBlizz that would raise blood stained red flags

#

maybe even smaller than ZeniMax

#

like Rocksteady or something, they need competition against Spiderman

wooden rapids
#

or maybe third party studios should stay third party

#

"i don't want a monopoly but here is who i want microsoft to acquire"

swift flume
#

They should buy insomniac

stark jasper
winged dawn
serene thistle
drifting valley
wanton harness
#

They have a really good relationship with Ubisoft already. I don't think they'd jeopardize it by trying to buy them out. Their relationship with ABK was spotty at best, so it made sense to try to buy them, since Sony tends to pay them for timed exclusivity rights.

serene thistle
#

sega also have good relations with all those yakuza games on gp. but sega have no intention of acquistion i believe

wanton harness
#

I also really doubt Ubisoft would sell. Not if they even remotely think it means Ubi+ will get added as a perk for GPU, which an acquisition could easily mean.

serene thistle
#

true.

wooden rapids
serene thistle
#

plus microsoft may need to worry about the new rules that ftc is pushing to pass for mergers and acqusitions

wanton harness
#

I just want games to release on every console they can possibly release on, so studios that aren't exclusively owned should just stay that way, imo.

serene thistle
#

true.

wanton harness
#

And if Sony would stop paying publishers to keep games from going to Game Pass, it would be even better.

marble root
#

anyone who cries about an MS monopoly through buying studios and pubs don't know the meaning of the word. consolidation hurts but only if market conditions are depleted. last I checked we have hundreds of publishers and still only three platform holders

I don't see a scenario where MS tops Apple, Tencent, Sony. How can MS be a monopoly if they can't top Apple or the other two and the other three aren't monopolies 🤔

market dominance is worse. I hope MS does well enough so we don't see lame practices like raising game prices, console prices, fighting hard against crossplay. MS did do some of these things but they weren't the first to do so they only followed the leader wonder who it is though 🤔

balmy thorn
wanton harness
nocturne vine
#

Can happen. Might not. We don't know. We can just wait

balmy thorn
mystic salmon
#

can't wait for candy crush 🔥

drifting valley
kind crown
#

Compared to PS3 at least

honest flare
serene thistle
#

They r gonna lose again. With the sony deal in place there whole stance how the acquisition will hurt consumers aka ps player base is moot

nocturne vine
#

We will see how it goes

cold jewel
serene thistle
wanton harness
drifting valley
wanton harness
#

Okay, but yeah, I meant the rewards thing. They gave all the rewards for their games for free when they discontinued it.

drifting valley
wanton harness
serene thistle
wanton harness
#

Yeah, the ones that supported Uplay. There's still rewards with Ubi Connect, but any that had Uplay before it shutdown got the rewards for free.

serene thistle
#

How the hell is the ftc going even have chance to win the appeal is beyond me lol

#

They should just throw in the towel. They r like 0 and 4 vs abk acquisition

nocturne vine
#

Bad PR is still PR

#

This isn’t about winning anymore. This is about pushing back as much as possible no matter if winning or not.

serene thistle
#

Their rep is down the drain

dim raven
#

no its not

nocturne vine
#

Nah. Their reputation as someone who tries to annoy every silicon valley big transaction is fully in place

dim raven
#

do you even understand the mission statement of the federal trade commision at this point? this isnt a sports competition or a tiktok short to count dunks

nocturne vine
#

Street rep is important ✌️ lol

dim raven
#

Lina Khan has been very clear in her time as Commissioner to properly challenge big tech in the US and will see forth to it that it occurs. Whether or not they win is irrelevant in that juncture, but it's ensuring that due process and scrutiny is being - in this case over-egregiously (IMO) - applied when it comes to further consolidation of the various tech sectors in our country.

#

The FTC won their case this month on AT&T's garbage data throttling. Via a SETTLEMENT for the people affected. Tell me how their rep is down the drain.

#

They just petitioned and won last month to provide payments to 140,000 Amazon Flex drivers for roughly $60 Million. So that they could properly be paid from the time of 2016-2019 where their TIPS were being withheld by Amazon.

nocturne vine
#

It’s the bias we have that will affect the perspective on the ftc. And just because they lost this and still fight for it doesn’t mean that they are generally failing

dim raven
#

It's the bias because people don't actually know what the FTC does and like to pontification on things they don't understand just because it has the word "XBOX" on the other side.

#

In February they fought to restore $115 million to nearly 40,000 people who got scammed via MoneyGram.

#

Whether or not their opinion on this merger is valid is irrelevant to the cause that the Commision, mostly and largely, does good for the people. They're just in a weird spotlight right now in the sociopolitical spectrum where they have an intent to squash Big Tech. For better or for worse. ABK is just caught in that crossfire.

#

But this doesn't surprise me coming from the same people that said the FTC doesn't have a large budget to fight cases, when they absolutely do.

#

So quick we are to forget that the FTC is the reason that Equifax has to actually be responsible for their data. That ruling came down in December and awarded half a BILLION dollars to the American people affected by the data breach. Including Identity Theft services on top of that.

nocturne vine
#

I think they did a lot of good but gamers seem to be so hostile towards one side or another just because.

dim raven
#

Cuz gamers are part of the internet

nocturne vine
#

Not all of course.

dim raven
#

and the internet is... well...

#

gestures broadly

nocturne vine
#

Yeah.

dim raven
#

The FTC has a track record of winning cases. Full stop.

nocturne vine
#

I wonder when it will all become better on the internet

dim raven
#

when I become ruler and require biometric identification to post things online.

nocturne vine
#

Internet license exams for everyone

dim raven
#

yeah to use the internet you need to pass a test, like driving

#

to post things requires 3 forms of ID

nocturne vine
#

First question : you have a question. Where do you go?
A. Google
B. Discord
C. X

oblique halo
#

D. To penguins

dim raven
#

D.

#

But anyway, the FTC wins cases. They're very flipping good at it. They have a $600 million budget to do so. And they will appeal a case until they're not allowed to anymore because that's what pretty much all attorneys do nowadays. Very seldom do we see a prosecution team lose an initial hearing and NOT appeal. The cost-basis on continuing is worth it to them because the amount of prep work to get there was so high.

#

But who am I kidding. 0% of the people who need to read any of that actually will and we'll be back tomorrow with another rendition of "Did we win? The FTC are clowns!"

nocturne vine
#

I am guilty of that too at times 😅

dim raven
#

I know.

nocturne vine
#

You could have laid it easy on me haha

dim raven
#

But at least you have been supplying accurate information in addition to your sometimes ridiculous takes.

nocturne vine
#

I try to be objective with it while my own selfishness of me wanting xbox to win this case comes through alot of times.

dim raven
#

Very different when ya got someone else just going "they dont have the budget to drag this on" without a simple Google search to see that, well, they do.

nocturne vine
#

They have a government behind them. Would be weird if they were poor

dim raven
#

And for sure. I want Xbox to come out the winners on this too. It's very obvious the conjecture that Sony has injected into this case and how they pretty much drove the CMA to their conclusion because old people don't know how the Internet works. But I'm happy that fair scrutiny is being applied through this case so that there is a precedent set should this ever happen again.

kind crown
nocturne vine
#

I just hope that every big acquisition is being put through this. Even if they fail we at least know that they care and look through it

dim raven
#

Most are tbf

nocturne vine
#

I think xbox are the ones with the two biggest ones right?

dim raven
#

AT&T and T-Mobile was pretty big

#

AT&T and DirecTV as well

nocturne vine
#

Oh I meant gaming sorry

dim raven
#

In gaming I'm trying to think of one that was at this size.. I can't think of one off the top of my head

#

Take Two and Zynga

#

that was what 15 billion?

nocturne vine
#

Pretty sure this is the biggest. Ahh yeah Zynga and King acquisitions would probably be second place

dim raven
#

Yeah ABK and King back in 2015 but that was like 1/8 the size of the Msft/ABK deal lol

nocturne vine
#

Nevermind. King was only 6 billion

dim raven
#

and that was tiny

nocturne vine
#

Yeah. I remember that one.

dim raven
#

I personally sit in a weird middle where I am okay with eyes on things like this, but sometimes feel the Commission applies a unilateral "challenge everything" approach to things, when they sometimes don't need to, just because it's bIg tEcH

nocturne vine
#

Overall even tho they failed one case it doesn’t mean they are bad per se. But the internet likes to pull one bad result through the mud. A company made 10 good games but recent game is bad? Bad company.

dim raven
#

the internet is incapable of nuance.

nocturne vine
dim raven
#

It's true.

#

These companies are wild out here

nocturne vine
#

And a pushback and control isn’t anything bad

dim raven
#

That's why I'm like, of course they're gonna appeal.

#

It's a 70 billion dollar deal

nocturne vine
#

Maybe they win. Maybe they won’t. But having the public perspective of ‘they never give up’ will work wonders

dim raven
#

Which I can somewhat appreciate, even if it's something I want to see happen. End of the day none of it matters because the games are still coming out. We still get to play them.

#

If they lose its not like I don't get CoD in October

serene thistle
#

Its not like we will get cod mw3 on gp this year even if the deal goes through anyways

nocturne vine
#

Who knows what deals were made tbh

idle mantle
#

If you mean the new one, unlikely. I'm pretty sure this one is still under the old Sony contract. But I honestly have no idea anymore

winged cosmos
#

Yup new MW3 is under contract

#

Old MW3 isn’t

#

So technically we could get mw3 on gp this year 😆

serene thistle
#

I meant the new one releasing in holiday 2023

nocturne vine
swift flume
#

CMA tricked us all again lol. It's the end of the week, yet no preliminary

sinful nest
#

its not friday in the UK yet

prisma tinsel
#

last I checked today is Thursday leftshark

oblique halo
#

CMA. We said August we didn't say what year

stoic sparrow
#

"no one knows the day or the hour"

rain escarp
mystic hinge
#

Oh my gosh did you all hear the CMA news!?!!..... Is what you would be hearing if their was any

swift flume
mystic hinge
drifting valley
#

anyways i want this on gamepass plz and ty ms

image.png
rain escarp
#

it is through Ultimate perks for Invasion

drifting valley
drifting valley
#

but not 100 percent sure

image.png
kind crown
#

Yeah it’s just a new heroes starter pack. You get some heroes and legendary skins

nocturne vine
#

Oh damn. Gotta get that!!!!

drifting valley
drifting valley
balmy thorn
winged cosmos
#

Just like with all activision blizzard games there’s no guarantee they’ll hit as soon as the deal closes

balmy thorn
#

I know but before 2025

drifting valley
winged cosmos
#

It is, but he asked what the latest game not under contract was

drifting valley
winged cosmos
#

2011 isn’t under contract, 2023 is

#

But just because it isn’t under contract doesn’t mean it’ll hit game pass

drifting valley
kind crown
serene thistle
#

Do cma have 2 release their prelim decision this week or they can start releasing their prelim decision starting this week

rain escarp
#

their plan was for this week, but things can change so no clue

serene thistle
#

Thanks. Cause like most government institutions of any country they normally dont work on weekends. I would assume that they got like 3 or 4 hours left for friday

swift flume
#

3 hours left until we see CMA's "good faith"

serene thistle
#

Lol

cursive bough
#

I doubt that

drifting valley
cursive bough
#

@drifting valley explain?

#

What will they do?, slap a denial again

drifting valley
swift flume
#

Canada?

drifting valley
#

austriailia hasnt said anything yet

cursive bough
#

@drifting valley dont forget the FTC

drifting valley
drifting valley
serene thistle
#

Ftc filed an appeal yesterday

drifting valley
swift flume
#

FTC doesn't matter now. Deal can be closed even if they appeal

drifting valley
#

ya they appealed already

image.png
#

the appeal lost the ftc is set in stone its passed

cursive bough
#

That says 28 days ago

drifting valley
#

this was the last news

image.png
swift flume
#

FTC has filed to bring a regulation that auto blocks mergers like this in the future

cursive bough
#

@swift flume yeah but that wont affect the acquisition now

serene thistle
cursive bough
#

"nothing to worry about"

swift flume
#

FTC should be MCU's next phase villain. They just never accept defeat

drifting valley
cursive bough
#

Letting them block it would be a major victory for Sony and their massive exclusives

serene thistle
#

The new rules that ftc filed for acquisition qnd mergers did it get approved yet

drifting valley
serene thistle
#

I thought wow was pc

drifting valley
swift flume
#

The whole point of the merger is to increase the xbox brand and revenue

drifting valley
#

but i only want this to go through so i can hope microsoft fires the majority of the heads over at blizzard

#

very specially overwatch heads and bobby

#

one doesnt know what they are doing the other is a horrible human that is money hungry

swift flume
#

All I want is all the games to be available on game pass

dim raven
#

every CEO is money hungry. they are driven to keep their job via profit and stock price increase.

#

lets not get it twisted

swift flume
#

Isn't that ths CFO's job? To manage companies stock

dim raven
#

CFO is to ensure the stability of the company

#

CEOs are elected by the board because of their ability to achieve profitable quarters

#

or else stockholders vote them out

drifting valley
dim raven
swift flume
#

2 hours left...

proven sonnet
swift flume
#

Until we see CMA's "good faith"

proven sonnet
#

i see

rain escarp
#

cma have posted much later than 5pm before btw

balmy thorn
balmy thorn
swift flume
balmy thorn
#

What's gonna happen in 2 hours bro

swift flume
balmy thorn
#

What's the difference between preliminary and full decision?

#

Like what does preliminary mean

swift flume
#

They have 2 hours left to release their preliminary decision which they said they will as a gesture of "good faith "

swift flume
balmy thorn
#

Great

#

Ping me when that happens

drifting valley
balmy thorn
#

Or maybe if there's some link that leads to a live or a tweet of the decision

swift flume
balmy thorn
#

We'll see

#

I'm mostly focused on this for game pass

swift flume
#

Everyone is for the same reason haha

serene thistle
drifting valley
#

Its not my big reason I want it to go through that's just a luxury perk I guess

balmy thorn
#

Who doesn't care about more games

drifting valley
#

I wanna see if they actually take control of some games that's been going downhill for years and start fixing it

balmy thorn
#

Like how they fixed cod matchmaking

drifting valley
balmy thorn
#

Fix....diablo mechanics?

drifting valley
#

That's all I want from this deal is fix the games blizzard somehow destoryed revive StarCraft

#

There's another thing blizzard somehow destoryed

idle mantle
#

You can care about more games, but it not be your main reason for following this. I'm more focused on the employees who work at ABK

balmy thorn
#

I heard one worker passed away for some bad reason at Activision

drifting valley
#

Microsoft has alot of work with this company if they manage to get it I hope they can seriously pull it off because old blizzard was great

balmy thorn
#

Yeah

#

I don't know what to say about that

#

Anyways, let's just wait for decision

serene thistle
#

Microsoft has a hands off approach to their acquisitions

drifting valley
#

But also I do fully say they might be less hands off of starfield and more breathing down Bethesdas neck to make sure it launches good I can only hope considering even the box of the series x now displays starfield

serene thistle
drifting valley
#

Not only for Bethesdas redemption ark but it has a serious chance of being the only game that can beat zelda

serene thistle
balmy thorn
drifting valley
balmy thorn
#

Gets what?

drifting valley
balmy thorn
#

Makes sense

#

Time zones

serene thistle
#

Im getting starfield on steam

drifting valley
drifting valley
balmy thorn
#

Bro it launches at the same time for everyone

#

There's no day earlier

#

That's just how time zones work

drifting valley
serene thistle
drifting valley
balmy thorn
#

People say it's exactly like no mans sky

#

Is that true

serene thistle
drifting valley
# balmy thorn Is that true

Honestly my honest opinion we won't know until launch don't look at the marketing stuff being marketing can be very disciving they typically cut things out that's not working etc etc it's hard to say at this moment HOWEVER it does have very heavy Skyrim and fallout elements to it from the gameplay

drifting valley
#

Games look so nice on 1080p ultra

serene thistle
swift flume
#

Times up, no announcement yet.

Thank you CMA for your good faith 👏

winged cosmos
#

It was only ever their goal to release something today. There was no promise and no legal obligation

rain escarp
#

most probably out in the sun

winged cosmos
#

Instead of worrying and posting about the CMA everyday just sit back and observe, it's a lot easier 😆

swift flume
winged cosmos
idle mantle
#

Good faith implies no obligation

winged cosmos
#

confirmation from Playstation Saudi Arabia on this years exclusivity

image.png
balmy thorn
#

Nah looks fake

#

Activision never even makes demo

winged cosmos
#

I wouldn't post it if it wasn't true

#

Demo will be a mis-translation of Beta

balmy thorn
#

That's so stupid like why 5 days

#

I'm gonna get spoiled on yt

winged cosmos
#

it's how it's always bean

balmy thorn
#

Maybe make it 2 or 3 days like the beta

winged cosmos
#

the demo is the beta...

balmy thorn
#

Oh

#

Still tho

#

I can't wait for the contract to end

#

And never do this again

#

Five days means for early beta right?

#

So open beta is like 2 or 3 days before right?

winged cosmos
#

5 days

#

Weekend 1 Fri - Sun will be Playstation
Weekend 2 Fri - Sun will be all platforms. Same as always

swift flume
#

I mean I thought everyone knew that the Sony exclusivisty contract runs out in 2024?

balmy thorn
#

So demo will also have a story mission or something?

balmy thorn
swift flume
balmy thorn
#

They never call it demo until now

winged cosmos
#

why are you getting hung up on the word demo

kind crown
winged cosmos
#

I've already said it will be a mis-translation

swift flume
#

I think it's cause everyone on this channel expects news about the xbox/microsoft merger and not Sony news

silk turtle
#

It even says beta at the bottom

cold jewel
swift flume
#

At Gamescon, they will probably announce Ubisoft+ coming to Game Pass Ultimate

silk turtle
#

No they won't.

#

Ubisoft+ by itself costs more than Game Pass Ultimate. There is no way they could include that with the service and it be viable for either company.

swift flume
#

They are increasing the price for game pass

mystic hinge
quiet ice
drifting valley
wanton harness
# drifting valley I'm pretty sure raising subs are hard to do to begin with because of the mindset...

I'll personally never understand this. If you play several games a month (like I do), even paying 30 bucks a month would be okay, considering I'd be spending a lot more then that in any given month if I bought every game I wanted to at least try.

Unlike most people, I don't really care if I complete a game. Game Pass lets me try games I'd never even glance at. The only thing I hate when it comes to completions is that discontinued or broken achievements make it impossible to complete if I wanted to, but it doesn't stop me from trying the game and having it on my card.

drifting valley
wanton harness
#

Personally, Netflix is the one I complain about. I don't watch enough on Netflix to make the price worth it, so when I'm finished watching my most important shows, I may just cancel.

trim bramble
#

i am a big fan of using a service for a while, taking a break and then coming back when things have built up enough for me to justify it for a few months

wanton harness
#

I also have a friend who lets me use her services (like Netflix, etc.) so if I ever did cancel and wanted to watch something, I could just ask her. lol

mystic salmon
#

if they raise ultimate price, i'll be the most affected one considering i'm from latam

rain escarp
#

already happened

mystic salmon
swift flume
#

Of course they will increase the price every few years due to inflation

#

And it's still worth it since its much cheaper than paying full price for a game

#

People seem to always complain no matter what though

marble root
#

I'm convinced people who complain about sub prices never paid for cable packages

wanton harness
#

I highly doubt it will be raised every few years. This is quite literally the first time it's even been raised since the service existed.

serene thistle
#

so like what 7 years since launch price?

balmy thorn
#

Could CMA make a preliminary decision today?

#

Or tomorrow?

silk turtle
#

Today? No. It's Sunday.

balmy thorn
#

I'm tired of waiting bro they literally said this week

tight edge
#

The week hasn't started yet

swift flume
valid axle
#

the deadline is the 29th they were going too give a update last week. Just because they said we "expect" to give an update around the 8th Aug does not mean they will. They have till the 29th

cursive bough
#

Hopefully they finally agree to the merger

#

It would make it so that there is hopefully only one hurdle to cross

drifting valley
nocturne vine
#

It will all go well. Trust in the lawyers and everyone involved to do their job right

drifting valley
balmy thorn
swift flume
#

CMA will not be releasing anything today

balmy thorn
#

Why

drifting valley
balmy thorn
#

I'm keeping my expectations low

swift flume
#

They would have released something at 9am then UK time

rain escarp
#

I dont know where you getting this info from. there is no set time to release something

winged cosmos
#

Yeah they originally blocked the deal at around lunch time

#

They don’t need to drop info as soon as the office opens

#

When they cleared UnitedHealth and EMIS. That was at 7:02am 😆

serene thistle
#

Let cma release when they r ready.

serene thistle
#

They still got a couple of weeks

rain escarp
#

what I think it means is, they still have to post the preliminary and have a 7 day comment period. if they want to reach the 29th deadline that order needs to come soon, otherwise it may end up going into September

#

havent been following it as much and will be even less soon got so many games to play now

serene thistle
drifting valley
swift flume
edgy lance
#

Wait is the hearing taking place today

valid axle
#

No

edgy lance
#

I thought it was monday tho

#

On wait isn't it the 15th

serene thistle
edgy lance
valid axle
#

No nothing happening today it's 6pm UK time they working to the 29th there was going to be an update last week but they didn't give it

#

In theory they have up to October anyhow.

edgy lance
#

So we gotta wait till the 29th..

#

AUGH

mystic hinge
#

Yes burocracy takes time.

woeful siren
#

Remember folks: absolutely not one single thing about your life changes the day the final “go ahead” gets announced!

valid axle
swift flume
#

Breaking News: CMA has not posted

serene thistle
#

Relax. As i said they post when they r ready

wanton harness
#

Literally nothing is going to change as soon as the final ruling is made. Games won't even be on Game Pass immediately, except for maybe some of the older titles, but do they even have any old titles on XBox? lol

oblique halo
#

All old cods crash games Tony hawk diablo

#

Hasbro been wanting the transformers games back

kind crown
#

A lot of interesting stuff from Activision on previous gen consoles.

swift flume
#

CMA gotta be trolling us at this point. They just tweeted but about a survey...

idle mantle
#

You keep posting wild theories and speculation. There was nothing stating anything about being on game pass immediately. You seem to be getting worked up about what you think will happen. Like the good faith thing last week. Just take a breath

serene thistle
#

Agreed. Like deadpool coming to game pass. It was delisted cause activision lost the license to sell it

mystic salmon
#

i'd be surprised ngl

drifting valley
proven sonnet
#

||man you guys are really desperate for news||

drifting valley
mystic salmon
drifting valley
valid axle
#

They mean for xcloud like Fortnite

stark jasper
#

what? fortnite works on cloud?

narrow talon
valid axle
#

You might be able to play it via the web on pc but yeah Fortnite is exclusive to epic store on pc that's 99% of epics player base on pc right 🤣/s

mystic salmon
wanton harness
#

There's no guarantee that Warzone will even be on Cloud when the deal goes through.

swift flume
wanton harness
#

It could be 800 in their country. But even in Canada, the Series S was only 300 and the X is 600.

drifting valley
valid axle
trim bramble
#

maybe they are aussie..

#

isnt everything there like double?

idle mantle
#

Yeah, expensive and tax included in pricing. I'm pretty sure that lines up with what friends paid there

swift flume
#

Buy it through Xbox All Access and spread the cost over 2 years with 0% interest.

Such a good deal

nocturne vine
serene thistle
#

do cma got until 29th to release their findings

rain escarp
#

that was their final order deadline, there was supposed to be something else before that.

#

but its the CMA that needs to sort things out, I mean if Microsoft and ABK were worried they would of said something by now. could be tons of things they need to look through

#

although looking at what Florian keeps posting, its possible they skipping the provisional decision and just going for the final order. either way not much longer to wait

serene thistle
#

Like a week and 1 day or so

rain escarp
#

yeah would be a week, cause its a bank holiday for UK on the 28th

serene thistle
#

If cma and Australian deal gets approved. Can ms close even with ftc appealing court decision again

narrow talon
winged cosmos
#

Yeah there’s no injunction or restraining order in the US

#

Technically they can close as soon as the CMA is finished since there’s no block in Aus either

serene thistle
#

I thought aus havent ruled yet never mind

nocturne vine
#

As long as they haven't blocked yet then nothing happening with AUS. Either they take too long and they are ruled out like Canada or I dunno. I don't even know if they have the power to block the deal.

valid axle
#

thats why I said NZ didn't matter ^ Same with AU in a way but they are a bigger market. They could of closed anytime after the 18th July outside the UK there was nothing stopping them closing the deal but they want too be on the right side of the CMA that makes sense, it would not look good otherwise.

#

i also wouldn't get locked on the 29th for the CMA they could easly just say we need more time. They may even take it too Appel with the CAT again and that wouldnt be till october. So anything can happen.

rain escarp
#

yeah but we locked onto the 29th cause they havent spoke for so long now, so either way something is going to happen soon

idle mantle
lament wigeon
#

So this is gunna go on another two months at least?

#

If the whole world agrees that this is fine, and if it won in court in the US, what is the issue? What could they possibly have an issue with that can't be fixed within a couple weeks?

idle mantle
silk turtle
#

Well, that was unexpected.

nocturne vine
#

CMA ruins everything again...

#

I'm not even sure anymore if CMA having this amount of privileges was a good idea. They are dampening a relatively new market which would have benefited from a big guy like Microsoft trying to increase the market further than Playstation ever did. This isn't really anti competitive anymore and it seems like CMA really didn't do their homework right.

#

The amount of illogical thinking regarding Streaming has become unfathomable. These anti competitive entities think it's like Netflix without having even tried it. Without knowing how much the whole thing is still in its baby steps. I personally feel like if CMA gets some mouthful from their government I wouldn't even be mad at this point anymore.

drifting valley
#

i think the cma is just stalling

nocturne vine
#

This isn't stalling. This is putting a major hurdle into the deal again

#

And again... Maybe even resulting in hurting the customers because of their illogical thinking.

drifting valley
#

when is the deadline to seal it again?

lament wigeon
#

...So CoD won't be available on the cloud unless you pay for Ubisoft+, I'm assuming?

nocturne vine
#

Who knows at this point

#

It's all a mess thanks to CMA ruining everything

silk turtle
#

Would be funny if they made a sneaky move, Ubisoft introduces a cheaper Xbox only tier of Ubi+ and Xbox includes it with Ultimate so then it's all still on there any way.

Not gonna happen, but would be funny. 😄

small knoll
#

Damn

nocturne vine
#

UbisoftCloud+ (Only in Gamepass Ultimate) would certainly be a funny turn of events

silk turtle
#

I've no interest in cloud gaming so doesn't affect me personally as long as local installs are still available in Game Pass, but sucks for those who use cloud a lot.

fleet kestrel
#

This is a twist I did not anticipate... Ubisoft... OK.

nocturne vine
#

And we gotta wait till October now thanks to CMA

honest flare
#

15 years to ubisoft. Better than ee because ubisoft is a close partner to xbox plus rumors of ubi plus on gamepass maybe not now but in future

nocturne vine
#

Essentially CMA just doing this to annoy everyone... They are basically the Eric Cartman in all of this... Annoying everyone just cause they can and cause they feel they have the power to do so.

lament wigeon
#

Yeah if this is only for cloud then it's not...too bad, I guess. As long as I'm getting more games on Game Pass that I don't have to pay for, I don't care.

small knoll
#

I’d say EA is a closer partner, more so than Ubisoft.

honest flare
#

It just means for uk gamers will be playing cloud games controlled by ubisoft. That's all.

lament wigeon
#

Maybe it's just the UK, but I didn't get that impression from the article.

honest flare
nocturne vine
small knoll
honest flare
#

Ee is a uk cloud company

silk turtle
lament wigeon
#

Imagine we get to October 18th only for the CMA to say, "nah we still deny."

I'd blow a gasket.

nocturne vine
#

That might happen.

honest flare
lament wigeon
#

If it wasn't for the fact that closing over them could cause problems, I'd say just do it.

honest flare
#

They will if they have to

small knoll
#

If they deny the acquisition, Microsoft could ignore it and close anyway. They’d have to withdraw Activision from the UK, which would suck for UK gamers.

nocturne vine
#

At this point with how CMA is acting rn it might be best to completely let it fall thru.

drifting valley
#

https://twitter.com/Ubisoft/status/1693868974033756457

Ubisoft (@Ubisoft)

The Ubisoft+ lineup is expanding!

We're excited to announce a new agreement that will bring Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft+ via streaming upon the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard!

We’ll also be licensing the games to a range of cloud streaming…

Likes

548

Retweets

153

Twitter ·
honest flare
drifting valley
#

also im almost postive you dont want to withdrawl abk from uk thats a big market

nocturne vine
#

The "We’ll also be licensing the games to a range of cloud streaming platforms" part sounds to me like Ubisoft gets the rights for those games to stream from microsoft and then licenses them back to Microsoft. Which is so idiotic.

silk turtle
honest flare
drifting valley
#

also microsoft should if they seal it figure out how to bring back the games to china market

honest flare
#

Lol as soon as i was about to go to sleep, they drop this breaking news smh

drifting valley
#

i seriously dont think its going to go anywhere

#

what microsoft should do is also fix this

image.png
winged cosmos
nocturne vine
#

Nah. Chinese market isn't the best rn

nocturne vine
drifting valley
#

ah na

winged cosmos
#

There you go, you can all stop blaming the CMA now

silk turtle
#

You think that will stop people blaming the CMA? 😄

nocturne vine
#

What language is that that Bobby is speaking?

silk turtle
nocturne vine
#

Sorry I can't read greed. Can someone translate? 😛

silk turtle
#

It's just the post from above, but it got really compressed when adding it to the meme template.

wanton harness
#

Reading? On the internet? What sorcery is this?

nocturne vine
#

I mean it's good to know that Activision is still for the merger despite this meaning it could be delayed even further.

kind crown
#

Will be interesting to see what the verdict is for this new deadline. Seems like the deal has a chance again of falling through.

wanton harness
#

They made the deal, as far as I know, they can't legally pull out. The only way it can be stopped is if the CMA wins, I believe.

hallow valley
#

How did I not see all this news until now?

#

Sheesh though, I will be kinda pissed if Activision games didn’t end up on gamepass after all this

serene thistle
#

so they need to release their decision or did cma already released their decision?

silk turtle
#

They haven't made their decision yet. They're looking into the new deal proposal.

serene thistle
#

also if ms sells cloud rights to ubisoft is that only in uk?

hallow valley
#

Apparently it’s worldwide

#

So it seems Activision games will be available on Ubisoft+ AND Xbox Gamepass

#

Wonder how that’ll work

serene thistle
#

not this year at least for the new cods. plus nothing that got delisted probably

hallow valley
#

Hoping that the recent scandal related to the Transformers games will still get them relisted at some point

#

Have there been any cases before of a game being delisted and then relisted several years late, the exact same version of the game?

serene thistle
hallow valley
serene thistle
hallow valley
#

There was a recent interview with Hasbro people at Comicon, in which they said that Hasbro had interest in the games being rereleased, but found out upon reaching out to Activision that the hard drives with the games were in an unknown location

However later an Activision employee came out and said that the games were not lost. And that it’s simply a matter of Hasbro and Activision not working out a new deal, in spite of them having received assets from Activision in the past few years to develop the Studio Series Gamer Edition toyline depicting the versions of characters from the Activision games (Hasbro owns the IP, designs and characters, but Activision owns the game code)

It is believed that once Microsoft aquires Activision that a deal might be made to bring back the Transformers games

swift flume
#

Classic CMA 🤣🤣

kind crown
swift flume
#

So Activision games will be on game pass for download only. Streaming is via ubisoft+ ?

serene thistle
#

then hasbro needs to renegotiate a deal. since hasbro have control over transformers franchise not activision

serene thistle
hallow valley
kind crown
hallow valley
#

Dang

#

Anyways I’m off to bed now, night

swift flume
#

The funny thing is that Florian was so confident that CMA will approve even though everyone else was saying that they will decline

oblique halo
#

So please the cma concerns

Now they push it further down the line

God this is idiotic beyond belief

swift flume
#

I'm a bit confused. The new deal with Ubisoft, is it only for UK customers or globally?

winged cosmos
#

Globally

swift flume
#

Ah damn. The CMA is quite powerful then

winged cosmos
#

It wasn’t a CMA decision

#

It was a Microsoft decision

nocturne vine
#

Saying this was Microsoft decision when they did this to counter the first CMA decision is a bit misleading. Especially since we know both parties have a conversation going right now.

swift flume
nocturne vine
#

So yeah the discourse and displeasure against the CMA is understandable.

#

https://twitter.com/JezCorden/status/1693885261610971475 And this kind of mentality happens now

Jez (@JezCorden)

CMA didn't accept the restructure lol, plans a new investigation with an October deadline.

CMA totally trolled Microsoft here. Baited them into ditching CAT, continues to stall to try and make the deal fail.

Likes

372

Twitter ·
#

At this point Microsoft should have went with the CAT instead.

winged cosmos
#

That tweet was made before bobbys statement saying Microsoft submitted the new merger plan

#

As per all merger plans in the UL they’re subject to phase one investigations

nocturne vine
#

Still... If Microsoft went with Cat they wouldn't have to go through Hoops to get this deal done.

swift flume
nocturne vine
#

This is an answer to CMAs stated problems. This doesn't come willy nilly out of nothing

swift flume
#

So how does Microsoft make a profit from selling off the streaming rights?

nocturne vine
#

Next up CMA demands Microsoft to make a streaming Deal with X.

kind crown
#

Will be interesting to see what happens if it gets declined again in October. I guess they would either need to get extended again, pull out of UK or call it off entirely.

swift flume
nocturne vine
#

A single regulator being able to twist and bend this to it's liking is the worst thing possible and shows that CMA has too much power. They shouldn't have been in charge of any of this to begin with.

kind crown
#

I can't see them pulling out of the UK tbh seems more likley it would be called off over that.

nocturne vine
#

They should just pull out of the UK at this point.

#

It's clear with how this one regulator body is acting that Xbox is not welcome in the UK. So pulling out of the UK will only hurt those that the CMA is acting like they are protecting.

swift flume
#

But if the EC declined, it too would have a global impact and would block the deal globally

nocturne vine
#

Then so be it

swift flume
#

So it's not only that the CMA has all the power. All these regulators do.

But they are mishandling their powers and being very anticonsumer

nocturne vine
#

Yeah but... Majority of those Regulators already approved

#

At what point would one blocker be considered "the only one who understands the consequences of this deal" instead of "the idiot who is just too stubborn to give in when he is wrong"

swift flume
#

One thing I don't get is CMA didn't want MS to have majority on cloud streaming but now doesn't Ubisoft have that after this deal?

swift flume
nocturne vine
#

CMA and FTC and in some sense AUS and NZ and Canada were the only ones against it. Why is it that only the english speaking countries are against it? Makes you question the whole thing.
FTC got fought off. AUS and NZ for some reason take their sweet time and we all probably guess why. At this point the CMA is just staling and souring the acquisition further.

#

Nah... FTC got fought off. CMA would have been too at the CAT. But nope.... CMA acted like they are best buddies with Microsoft now to get rid of the CAT cause they would have not survived the public humiliation. It was all to save face and now this happened. CAT should have went through... It would have saved everyone the time and this stuff.

swift flume
#

I think Microsoft aren't stupid. They saw this coming and are very sure that CMA will approve this divestiture.

nocturne vine
#

The problem is they trusted the CMA. That was a big mistake.

swift flume
drifting valley
serene thistle
#

cloud gaming rn isnt that big in uk to begin with

swift flume
#

CAT was willing to overrule CMA on the spot and approve deal but oh well

swift flume
nocturne vine
#

Cloud gaming needs to get bigger. Microsoft would have been the right player to make it big. Cutting them open and making it harder for them to even do anything in that market has more negative effects in that market than the CMA thinks it does. And that just shows the incompetence of the CMA

serene thistle
#

can they go to cat now or cma now?

nocturne vine
#

This deal is done... Now we just wait till October. If the CMA still doesn't approve by then then I don't even know anymore... CMA was a mistake.

serene thistle
#

if ms sell cloud rights what does that mean for game pass ultimate subscribers

nocturne vine
#

As of right now... No Activision Blizzard titles on Xcloud.
But that could change later on. Who knows.

swift flume
serene thistle
#

ubisoft cloud probably worse

nocturne vine
#

Can... doesn't mean they will. Who knows. Until we get anything more concrete it's all just "Maybe... maybe not"

swift flume
#

It says on their article

#

Activision Blizzard games, as well as all their new titles launching in the 15 years after the closing of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The games will land on Ubisoft+, while also allowing Ubisoft to license them to cloud gaming companies, service providers, and console makers.

#

Ubisoft will license the Activision games to Microsoft game pass subscribers

nocturne vine
#

That's an assumption

#

Again... we don't know. Nothing final.

#

But all this does is also being disrespectful to all other regulator bodies. Basically acting like CMA is the only right one. This will have consequences beyond this deal and I do not like that.

swift flume
#

No, Microsoft would have done the same with any regulator. Like with EC they agreed for oversight on cloud gaming

nocturne vine
#

You don't understand the implications.
EU was fine with a lot. CMA wanted more... Now this whole legal shenanigans of having to give away the streaming rights to ubisoft just for ubisoft to give them back is absolutely nonsense. This is some absolutely mind boggling stupid stuff. What does this do better than what the EU proposed? Nothing. This is some powerplay by the CMA which will result in regulator bodies being absolutely spiteful against the CMA because of their arrogance in this.

#

Is this really structural remedies instead of behavioral remedies? This is complete and utter nonsense.

swift flume
#

Yeah CMA has cemented it's reputation

nocturne vine
#

All this does is make CMA look stupid. And consumers will eventually be baffled why some regular body like them are trying to protect them with nonsense like this.

swift flume
#

Yeah, all we can do now is hope and wait for 2 months

nocturne vine
#

If they decline the deal again then I would just lol myself to the ground.

kind crown
#

Yeah will be interesting to see what happens.

#

Either way, glad for it to be over

nocturne vine
#

At that point I wonder if Microsoft can sue them for all of this.

#

If they decline again I would definitely want Microsoft to sue them and see how it all goes. That would be more entertaining than this nonsense

prisma tinsel
#

They are selling cloud gaming rights specifically in the UK or globally?

nocturne vine
#

Globally

prisma tinsel
#

Damn so Microsoft just giving up on all the progress they made with xcloud

nocturne vine
#

Means that all exclusives from Xbox from the Activision teams could end up being on Playstation via Cloud till 2039

silk turtle
#

It's only for ABK games.

rain escarp
#

man just catching up. tons of stuff to go through

nocturne vine
#

Lots of nonsense. Have fun Paul lol

prisma tinsel
#

Does it mean that ABK games can still come to game pass?

silk turtle
#

Yes

rain escarp
#

well not here I am reading the Verge article lol

nocturne vine
#

Maybe. It's Ubisofts decision.

silk turtle
#

This is for cloud gaming only.

nocturne vine
#

I thought Xcloud. But native games will all end up on gamepass.

silk turtle
#

They won't be able to add the games on xcloud. There's nothing stating they can't add them for local installs on Game Pass.

prisma tinsel
#

Ok then it’s not too bad then

nocturne vine
#

It is bad.

rain escarp
#

wasnt expecting Ubisoft though

prisma tinsel
#

We can’t stream ABK games over xcloud anyway rn so it doesn’t change anything

silk turtle
#

The CMA's entire concern was about cloud gaming. This is a move to address those concerns so isn't about access through Game Pass for installs.

serene thistle
#

What about ea play games going on the cloud

nocturne vine
#

As said... Xbox exclusives ABK games would end up not being exclusives cause they could be streamed on Playstation

drifting valley
nocturne vine
#

On top of that Ubisoft has the reign to decide on which game can be streamed on what platform.

nocturne vine
drifting valley
silk turtle
prisma tinsel
#

I’m confused, you can stream games through the playstation itself?

nocturne vine
#

Exclusives are made to entice customers onto your platform. As long as all 3 big console companies do it... Xbox shouldn't stop doing it.

prisma tinsel
#

You can use Xcloud on some smart TVs so couldn’t they have just done that anyway?

nocturne vine
#

But it's till xcloud. That's what the CMA is arguing.

drifting valley
rain escarp
#

so Ubisoft are gonna add ABK titles to their Ubisoft+ service

nocturne vine
nocturne vine
drifting valley
#

its why i wait for pc ports of sony games and if its on epic i wait longer

nocturne vine
#

And that's a good thing. It has been a thing like this for forever. And other platforms do it too.

silk turtle
#

Exclusives are never going away.

#

As much as they may suck for people who can't get all platforms, they're still important to the industry.

drifting valley
nocturne vine
#

If you can play every game on every platform there will be less reasons to buy a specific console besides maybe form factor, power, price and provided services

#

It makes the buying of consoles less about the games itself and more about stupid nonsense. It would only result in less competition in regards to bigger titles.

#

You can only play your Uncharted and Halo and Spiderman and Gears of War because of this competition between consoles. Without them you would end up with more MTX games than ever.

drifting valley
silk turtle
#

No one is trying to change your mind. Just making points about why it's never going to happen and why they're still necessary whether people like them or not.

nocturne vine
#

Exactly.
I also wish to be able to play every game ever made on one platform and never need to change it. But it's simply not possible and would help deteriorate a lot of the industry standards

rain escarp
#

well that was a crazy quick read through that article, which says it could take till October.

nocturne vine
#

Wait until it's declined again in October

kind crown
#

The only change as of recent is PC or Windows at least being more of a neutral platform over the past few years. Still don't think Nintendo would ever put their games on PC though

nocturne vine
#

Seems like EC is now looking into this and trying to figure out if a new review by the EC is needed. Which would put this well beyond October if this was the case.

serene thistle
#

So ms is just selling cloud rights for abk games

rain escarp
#

yeah but Ubisoft are able to give Microsoft abk games for their cloud

#

what a weird situation lol

nocturne vine
#

Read an interesting thesis that this will help Ubisoft not being bought in the next 15 years

serene thistle
#

If they do sell cloud to ubisoft does that make the deals with other cloud services moot

rain escarp
#

no those are still going ahead aswell

nocturne vine
#

Essentially it would null them. So yeah...

#

This is why EC will have to take another look as well. Essentially putting this deal far beyond October

rain escarp
#

The agreement with Ubisoft has been structured so that Microsoft will still acquire the rights needed to honor fully its legal obligations under its commitments to the European Commission, as well as its existing contractual obligations to other cloud game streaming providers, including Nvidia, Boosteroid, Ubitus, and Nware.

nocturne vine
#

But not themselves?

#

The lawyers probably being the happiest cause they have to be hired to make sure the back and forth of streaming rights is accurate... smh

rain escarp
#

and this is for Microsoft :-

Ubisoft will compensate Microsoft for the cloud streaming rights to Activision's games through a one-off payment and through a market-based wholesale pricing mechanism, including an option that supports pricing based on usage.

nocturne vine
#

Yeah but... does Microsoft get to stream the games?

silk turtle
#

I've not seen anything about Ubisoft licensing the games back to Microsoft to stream. Where are people seeing this?

My understanding is that the games won't be on xcloud at all. Surely giving them to Ubisoft and then licensing them back is a sneaky underhanded way of cheating the system that wouldn't be looked upon favourably by the CMA and others?

nocturne vine
#

Exactly

serene thistle
#

So ms cant take cma to cat right?

nocturne vine
#

They could. But at this point it's pointless with all the deals they have made to please the CMA.

foggy matrix
#

one thing that could potentially happen is the ubisoft streaming portion gets included in ultimate

#

purely theoretical ofc since it's possible ubisoft will also have non ABK games on it as well

#

and by possible, I mean more than likely.

serene thistle
#

But isnt ubi plus on console cost more than ultimate?

winged cosmos
#

Since they handle it though Luna (same subscription tier and cost as Ubi+ on console)

cursive bough
#

The CMA are being clowns rn

drifting valley
#

When is the official deadline ending

narrow talon
drifting valley
winged cosmos
silk turtle
nocturne vine
#

I posted that earlier 😛

narrow talon
#

Florian is reporting that this EU investigation would be about ensuring the previous deals would be kept.

nocturne vine
#

Yes. And that can take a few weeks too depending if Ubisoft will hand over the contract etc.

serene thistle
proven sonnet
#

So, I have to buy Ubisoft+ now just to play COD on cloud?

woeful siren
#

CMA is eroding trust and reducing the leverage the UK has with general Microsoft negotiations.
I expect a fleet of licensing auditors to descend upon the UK govt like locusts and the next contract renewals to not have as many freebies in it

lavish snow
#

This is such a mess lmao

#

On the bright side Ubisoft has been one of the most friendly studio in terms of providing their games to cloud gaming in general,they have their games in all services already like GeForce, Playstation,xcloud and Amazon luna

sonic cairn
#

This is insanity, just close on the UK. It's not worth fighting with them any more at this point, they're never gonna clear the acquisition no matter how much Microsoft appeases them and Microsoft has support from every other country on the friggin planet. Just bite the bullet and close the deal, if the UK comes crying later wanting a piece of the pie then make them work for it, since they wanna be so extra in the first place

fleet kestrel
#

I only wonder what it would mean for us if XBOX had to give up the attempt to gain UK approval. I really don't want to be living in the outcast of the XBOX world.

sonic cairn
#

I guarantee the CMA would come crawling to Microsoft within a week after running the numbers on how much money they'd lose if they didn't

kind crown
silk turtle
#

They would likely sell them via a third-party. I doubt they'd remove the games entirely.

fleet kestrel
silk turtle
#

Not to mention the huge damage to their reputation if they just pull some of the most popular games from a large market.

#

They already know they're behind Sony and Nintendo in terms of sales. They're working to improve that, not destroy it.

It would also cause concern worldwide and make people lose trust, worrying what moves they'll make next and whether it could mean losing access to content in other countries.

Absolutely off the table.

serene thistle
#

Does extension also end on october 18th

rain escarp
#

October 18th was the final day and if Activision backed out they would owe them what was it near 5 million

#

October 18th was also the date for next free appeals with CAT

serene thistle
#

Dont u mean billion

rain escarp
#

ah yeah, its been a long day

drifting valley
honest flare
#

Good analysis by Michael Pachter
https://twitter.com/PostUp_SOG/status/1694032894182748559?s=20

Post Up (@PostUp_SOG)

Update: MS/ABK

Michael Pachter on Microsoft restructured deal

Wanted to get my note out first, but the gist of the CMA deal is that Microsoft will sell rights for cloud streaming ONLY to Ubisoft. Ubisoft can license them to anyone on an exclusive basis OUTSIDE the EU, UK,…

Likes

267

Twitter ·
shy marlin
#

Not having read this analysis.... Michael Pachter is definitely not the first name I think of when I hear "good analysis"

mystic salmon
#

context but in short words ? about microsoft with ubisoft ? i was kinda confused but i heard it's not good

silk turtle
wooden rapids
#

this is for all regions? lemme read that rq

#

ok i see

#

well maybe they stop complaining now

worldly spoke
#

The Internet? Stop complaining? Haha, good joke

#

Ah, wait, wrong chat, thought this was about Cyberpunk

#

Whoopsie! Please move along, nothing to see here 😅

valid axle
#

that's positive I think they must be confidant that this sorts everything with the cma otherwise they would have stayed quiet.

nocturne vine
valid axle
#

yeah so opening it up for public comment

edgy lance
#

What in the world is going on with this deal what is going on with the cma

#

Im hearing the cma didn't like the reconstruction like

woeful siren
#

Sorry folks. Cloud is dead. I read it on Twitter.

wooden rapids
wooden rapids
#

then xbone users couldn't play starfield

edgy lance
woeful siren
#

Yea the number of “business analysts” and “legal experts” and “corporate strategy experts” who have come out of the wooed work during this who thing is insane lol

edgy lance
serene thistle
#

ms selling cloud rights for ubk to ubisoft

rain escarp
#

and cma looking over the info could take till October 18th

edgy lance
#

WHAT THE

wooden rapids
#

yep, pctober 18th

rain escarp
#

october 18th being the final day of the abk agreement which is also the day if CMA decline again they get to appeal with the UK CATribunal

edgy lance
#

Alright time to buy zelda totk and do something else :/ this absolutely ridiculous

edgy lance
#

Hilarious.

serene thistle
#

but xbox still has cloud rights for the rest of game pass right not counting abk?

edgy lance
#

Oh wait "could take up until the 18" but still

serene thistle
#

thats a little under 2 months away

edgy lance
marble root
honest flare
lament wigeon
#

Just to be clear, this would not affect them coming to Game Pass proper, yes?

marble root
#

nope

oblique halo
rain escarp
#

yep does that capture the other question about them having to do work on Game Pass before any games from Activision actually drop in

silk turtle
#

It's a tough sell to bring CoD to Game Pass because Sony had them under the thumb.

marble root
proven sonnet
#

any more news or is everything quiet until the 29th?

rain escarp
#

thats been and gone, CMA already talked its gonna drag on for upto maybe another 6-7 weeks

#

because they need to go through the Info Microsoft gave them as Ubisoft now will take over their Cloud Streaming titles for ABK.

proven sonnet
serene thistle
#

hopefuly they announce their decision before 10/18/23

woeful siren
#

Why’s that?

proven sonnet
# woeful siren Why’s that?

thats the deadline in which activision or microsoft can leave and microsoft has to pay up $3 billion to activision