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July 12, 2023 4:59 AM Subscribe
Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard [The Verge] A California judge is allowing Microsoft to close its acquisition of Activision Blizzard after five days of grueling testimony. Microsoft still faces an ongoing antitrust case by the Federal Trade Commission, but Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has listened to arguments from both the FTC and Microsoft and decided to deny the regulator’s request for a preliminary injunction. [Explainer Video][YouTube]
In a ruling submitted today, Judge Corley said the following:
In a ruling submitted today, Judge Corley said the following:
“Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services. This Court’s responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted—perhaps even terminated—pending resolution of the FTC administrative action. For the reasons explained, the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED.”• Read Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s memo to Microsoft employees about the FTC win. [The Verge]
“Today a US District Court judge issued a decision denying the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction, which would have temporarily blocked our acquisition of Activision Blizzard from closing in the United States. We’re grateful that, upon a review of the evidence and witness testimony, the Court rejected the FTC’s claims that our acquisition would harm consumers. The evidence showed the deal is good for the industry and that the FTC’s claims about console switching, multi-game subscription services, and the cloud do not reflect the realities of the gaming market.• What happens to the Microsoft Activision deal now? [Kotaku]
After today’s decision, we are turning our focus to the UK. As you may be aware, a few months ago, the UK Competition and Markets Authority recommended that the deal be prohibited. We disagree with the CMA’s concerns and have challenged its decision on appeal. At the same time, however, we are considering how the transaction might be modified to address the CMA’s concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA. In order to prioritize work on potential options, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that pausing the appeal now would be in the public interest, and both we and the CMA have made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to this effect.
From the beginning, the Gaming Leadership Team and I have believed that this acquisition will meaningfully benefit players and the gaming industry. Since we announced our intent, our actions have demonstrated our commitment to bringing more games to more people on more devices. This includes numerous signed agreements to make Activision Blizzard’s games, Xbox first party games and Game Pass all available to more players than they are today. I’m proud of our efforts to expand player access and choice throughout the process. This deal has already been cleared to move forward in 38 countries, and we will continue to work toward timely resolution in other jurisdictions.
Thank you to everyone who has devoted their time and dedication in support of our acquisition. We embarked on this deal with a clear vision for meeting players where they are, and with today’s decision by the Court, we take an important step forward in bringing this vision to life.
Phil”
“The FTC can try to appeal the ruling, and still has its own anti-trust lawsuit in the works, but both appear unlikely at this juncture to derail the deal. The last obstacle in Microsoft’s way, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocking the deal in the UK, also appears to be disappearing. Microsoft President Brad Smith tweeted that it is currently set to negotiate with the CMA on final remedies to win back approval for the deal. “We’re grateful to the court for swiftly deciding in our favor,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer tweeted after the decision was announced. “The evidence showed the Activision Blizzard deal is good for the industry and the FTC’s claims about console switching, multi-game subscription services, and cloud don’t reflect the realities of the gaming market.” Activision’s stock price is now the highest it’s been since the deal was first announced back in January 2022, approaching the planned sale price of $95 a share.”
So eventually, there’s just gonna be one company. Do we think it’ll be Lockheed-Disney or AmazonCitigroup?
posted by Jon_Evil at 5:27 AM on July 12, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 5:27 AM on July 12, 2023 [11 favorites]
I might be okay with this if Kotick gets marched off a plank somewhere.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:28 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:28 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh, hmm, well, I think Disney has to buy Sony first and then Apple will buy Microsoft in the most hilariously ironic deal of the century, and the combined Microsapple gets to fight Disfilx over streaming royalties in the cage match of the millennium. (Unless that musk/zuck thing happens.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:31 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:31 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Alas, Kotick won't be walking the plank, but instead sailing off in his own treasure-laden dinghy. It nonetheless is the only bright spot in this whole deal.
posted by The Nutmeg of Consolation at 5:36 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by The Nutmeg of Consolation at 5:36 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Considering that I haven't bought either a Microsoft or Activision-made game in over a decade, I wish them luck in continuing to make games that I do not play or buy.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:00 AM on July 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:00 AM on July 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
Lockheed-Disney or AmazonCitigroup
Disney is small fry right now compared to the big tech companies. Apple has a market cap of $3T, Microsoft $2.5T, Google $1.5T and Amazon $1.2T. Disney is valued somewhere around $150B.
Between them, Apple and Microsoft have enough cash on hand to buy Disney outright ($50B and $100B respectively). Not market cap, not stock swaps, but cash reserves.
posted by rh at 6:02 AM on July 12, 2023 [10 favorites]
Disney is small fry right now compared to the big tech companies. Apple has a market cap of $3T, Microsoft $2.5T, Google $1.5T and Amazon $1.2T. Disney is valued somewhere around $150B.
Between them, Apple and Microsoft have enough cash on hand to buy Disney outright ($50B and $100B respectively). Not market cap, not stock swaps, but cash reserves.
posted by rh at 6:02 AM on July 12, 2023 [10 favorites]
That Matt Stoller piece was illuminating thank you.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:11 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Wretch729 at 6:11 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yes, thank you for linking to that Matt Stoller piece, it really does contextualize the impact of this decision and what it might mean for everyone going forward.
posted by Fizz at 6:23 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 6:23 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Just noting that too many gamers are celebrating this and not realizing how detrimental this is going to be down the road. There are shitheads in my work slack channel celebrating that they invested in stock with Activision last week and I want to throw my laptop into a volcano.
posted by Fizz at 6:36 AM on July 12, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 6:36 AM on July 12, 2023 [13 favorites]
Considering that I haven't bought either a Microsoft or Activision-made game in over a decade, I wish them luck in continuing to make games that I do not play or buy.
Are you sure you haven't played any microsoft games recently? They've been buying a lot of studios. More to the point, market concentation can hurt both consumers and game developers, e.g. when suddenly you find that the new game you were excited about is a gamepass exclusive.
posted by ropeladder at 6:44 AM on July 12, 2023 [9 favorites]
Are you sure you haven't played any microsoft games recently? They've been buying a lot of studios. More to the point, market concentation can hurt both consumers and game developers, e.g. when suddenly you find that the new game you were excited about is a gamepass exclusive.
posted by ropeladder at 6:44 AM on July 12, 2023 [9 favorites]
"There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. . . . The world is a business, Mr. Beale! It has been since man crawled out of the slime, and our children, Mr. Beale, will live to see that perfect world in which there is no war and famine, oppression and brutality--one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused."
posted by thecaddy at 7:11 AM on July 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by thecaddy at 7:11 AM on July 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
I'm still confused by the pushback againt this. Big games producers acquiring other producers and developers is how this industry works.
1) Even post-merger, Microsoft-Activision will still be smaller than Sony, passing Nintendo and roughly tied with Tencent for revenue.
2) Nintendo and Sony both thrive on their exclusive titles. Their market dominance is due to the quality and popularity of their exclusive titles. And not all of those are first-party games. Some, like Pokemon, and produced in partnership with an external company. Some of Sony's biggest first-party games are the products of dev studios that they purchased, not ones they built up internally. Others, like Final Fantasy, are the result of exclusivity agreements with third-party publishers, something I find much more anti-competitive than exclusivity due to mergers and acquisitions.
So yeah, this is a big fish being eaten by a slightly bigger fish, but the arguments against this, especially the ones made by Sony themselves, seem hypocritical to me. Comments bemoaning things like " suddenly you find that the new game you were excited about is a gamepass exclusive." As opposed to finding out the new game you're excited about is a Switch exclusive, or a PlayStation exclusive, or an Apple Arcade exclusive?
posted by thecjm at 7:18 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
1) Even post-merger, Microsoft-Activision will still be smaller than Sony, passing Nintendo and roughly tied with Tencent for revenue.
2) Nintendo and Sony both thrive on their exclusive titles. Their market dominance is due to the quality and popularity of their exclusive titles. And not all of those are first-party games. Some, like Pokemon, and produced in partnership with an external company. Some of Sony's biggest first-party games are the products of dev studios that they purchased, not ones they built up internally. Others, like Final Fantasy, are the result of exclusivity agreements with third-party publishers, something I find much more anti-competitive than exclusivity due to mergers and acquisitions.
So yeah, this is a big fish being eaten by a slightly bigger fish, but the arguments against this, especially the ones made by Sony themselves, seem hypocritical to me. Comments bemoaning things like " suddenly you find that the new game you were excited about is a gamepass exclusive." As opposed to finding out the new game you're excited about is a Switch exclusive, or a PlayStation exclusive, or an Apple Arcade exclusive?
posted by thecjm at 7:18 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Are you sure you haven't played any microsoft games recently?
Point taken! It turns out that I did pick up the Switch ports of Skyrim (developed by MS owned Bethesda) and Doom 2016 (made by Id Software, also owned by MS), so apparently I did throw somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 USD at them in the last decade. But I do find that my general preference for smaller-scope indie games and avoiding most AAA titles goes a long way in mostly cutting MS (and Activision) out of my gaming life.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:20 AM on July 12, 2023
Point taken! It turns out that I did pick up the Switch ports of Skyrim (developed by MS owned Bethesda) and Doom 2016 (made by Id Software, also owned by MS), so apparently I did throw somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 USD at them in the last decade. But I do find that my general preference for smaller-scope indie games and avoiding most AAA titles goes a long way in mostly cutting MS (and Activision) out of my gaming life.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:20 AM on July 12, 2023
How 'bout lil 'ol Minecraft?
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:26 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:26 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Are you sure you haven't played any microsoft games recently? They've been buying a lot of studios. More to the point, market concentation can hurt both consumers and game developers, e.g. when suddenly you find that the new game you were excited about is a gamepass exclusive.
Starfield. This right there is what sucks for everyone. You have to invest in a higher end gaming PC (which can be ridiculously expensive) or buy one of their consoles if you want to play this game. It sucks. And Microsoft can say what they will about Call of Duty being available on Sony Playstations for the next 10 years, but I don't put any trust in any of the words that come out of their money stuffed mouth holes.
posted by Fizz at 7:29 AM on July 12, 2023
Starfield. This right there is what sucks for everyone. You have to invest in a higher end gaming PC (which can be ridiculously expensive) or buy one of their consoles if you want to play this game. It sucks. And Microsoft can say what they will about Call of Duty being available on Sony Playstations for the next 10 years, but I don't put any trust in any of the words that come out of their money stuffed mouth holes.
posted by Fizz at 7:29 AM on July 12, 2023
The Last of Us Part 2. This right there is what sucks for everyone. You have to invest in a higher end gaming PC (which can be ridiculously expensive) or buy one of their consoles if you want to play this game. It sucks
posted by thecjm at 7:34 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by thecjm at 7:34 AM on July 12, 2023
TLOU2 is available for Playstation (only); Naughty Dog is owned by Sony. Not to take away from the point about exclusives.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:38 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:38 AM on July 12, 2023
Point taken. Let's say God of War 2 instead.
The one that really irks me is Final Fantasy XVI. I get it - Nintendo only makes games for Nintendo, Sony only for Sony, etc. But Sony paying Squenix who know how much to make their mainline FF games PlayStation exclusive? That's really what people should be up in arms about.
posted by thecjm at 7:42 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
The one that really irks me is Final Fantasy XVI. I get it - Nintendo only makes games for Nintendo, Sony only for Sony, etc. But Sony paying Squenix who know how much to make their mainline FF games PlayStation exclusive? That's really what people should be up in arms about.
posted by thecjm at 7:42 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also - Naughty Dog was an independent developer purchased by Sony. Same with the people who are making Starfield being purchased by MS
posted by thecjm at 7:44 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by thecjm at 7:44 AM on July 12, 2023
Starfield. This right there is what sucks for everyone.
Dunno about everyone. I'm in the same boat as Strange Interlude in that I rarely give Microsoft gaming monies (pretty much the only owned-by-MS or ActiBlizz franchises I follow are Halo, Doom, and sometimes, very rarely, Forza) and tend to prefer indie games and others not in the "triple A" space.
One part of this merger which has been largely overlooked is that it would give Microsoft ownership of Candy Crush Saga developer King. Considering how little Microsoft is currently involved in the mobile games space, this is a very big deal.
Anyway, games industry consolidation sucks, no arguments about that.
posted by May Kasahara at 7:44 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Dunno about everyone. I'm in the same boat as Strange Interlude in that I rarely give Microsoft gaming monies (pretty much the only owned-by-MS or ActiBlizz franchises I follow are Halo, Doom, and sometimes, very rarely, Forza) and tend to prefer indie games and others not in the "triple A" space.
One part of this merger which has been largely overlooked is that it would give Microsoft ownership of Candy Crush Saga developer King. Considering how little Microsoft is currently involved in the mobile games space, this is a very big deal.
Anyway, games industry consolidation sucks, no arguments about that.
posted by May Kasahara at 7:44 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Microsoft ripped me off on Minecraft. I paid my 15$ for the alpha, back in ummmmm 2010? The promise was that if you buy the alpha you get the updates for the rest of eternity. I stopped playing around the time MS bought it. Not because of that, I'd just been playing for years at that point and I'd had enough.
When I came back to it, you had to migrate your Mojang account to MS. It just wouldn't allow it. The system knows I have an account, they send me the password reset to my registered email. It just doesn't work.
I use TLauncher without a shred of guilt, I fucking paid for the game and I'm going to fucking play it. It sucks, it's people like me that supported this little indie game with our pocket money that made it worth the $1.5b buying price, and they screwed me.
Jan 2012
A fan on Twitter said to Notch, "I really like the game but lack the money to buy it. I thought I might at least ask for a free account before piracy." Notch's response? "Just pirate it. If you still like it when you can afford it in the future, buy it then. Also don't forget to feel bad. ;)"
2014
Microsoft sells skin packs for 99c
posted by adept256 at 7:47 AM on July 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
When I came back to it, you had to migrate your Mojang account to MS. It just wouldn't allow it. The system knows I have an account, they send me the password reset to my registered email. It just doesn't work.
I use TLauncher without a shred of guilt, I fucking paid for the game and I'm going to fucking play it. It sucks, it's people like me that supported this little indie game with our pocket money that made it worth the $1.5b buying price, and they screwed me.
Jan 2012
A fan on Twitter said to Notch, "I really like the game but lack the money to buy it. I thought I might at least ask for a free account before piracy." Notch's response? "Just pirate it. If you still like it when you can afford it in the future, buy it then. Also don't forget to feel bad. ;)"
2014
Microsoft sells skin packs for 99c
posted by adept256 at 7:47 AM on July 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm still confused by the pushback againt this. Big games producers acquiring other producers and developers is how this industry works.
Because industry consolidation has always resulted in things getting shittier for individuals participating in the market.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:48 AM on July 12, 2023 [13 favorites]
Because industry consolidation has always resulted in things getting shittier for individuals participating in the market.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:48 AM on July 12, 2023 [13 favorites]
I don't think using Notch as a moral compass is a great idea.
posted by thecjm at 7:49 AM on July 12, 2023 [26 favorites]
posted by thecjm at 7:49 AM on July 12, 2023 [26 favorites]
I do think it an interesting challenge to imagine how Activision could be made a worse company than it is now. Honestly I'm coming up a bit empty. If exclusives mean fewer people are exposed to their toxic monetization strategies, that's ... good?
(I am strongly anti-consolidation, anti-monopoly, anti-capitalist, this is just bullshitting really.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:52 AM on July 12, 2023
(I am strongly anti-consolidation, anti-monopoly, anti-capitalist, this is just bullshitting really.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:52 AM on July 12, 2023
1) Even post-merger, Microsoft-Activision will still be smaller than Sony, passing Nintendo and roughly tied with Tencent for revenue.
Nope. That's just Microsoft's gaming division - not Microsoft as a whole, which as was pointed out has the warchest to spend Sony into the ground.
Others, like Final Fantasy, are the result of exclusivity agreements with third-party publishers, something I find much more anti-competitive than exclusivity due to mergers and acquisitions.
I mean, it couldn't have been that Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with their own anti-competitive behavior a decade ago there.
Which gets to a bigger point - Microsoft is currently in the hole they are in with their gaming division because of their own mismanagement. And as pointed out, they're looking to dig themselves out by spending their way out.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:00 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Nope. That's just Microsoft's gaming division - not Microsoft as a whole, which as was pointed out has the warchest to spend Sony into the ground.
Others, like Final Fantasy, are the result of exclusivity agreements with third-party publishers, something I find much more anti-competitive than exclusivity due to mergers and acquisitions.
I mean, it couldn't have been that Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with their own anti-competitive behavior a decade ago there.
For those who don't know, back when Final Fantasy XIV was getting rebooted, Squeenix looked to build a client for Microsoft consoles - not surprising given they had a Final Fantasy XI client for the 360. Microsoft demanded that they make platform-specific shards as a term of being on their platform (like they demanded with Bethesda and The Elder Scrolls Online.) Bethesda caved (and the fractured player base contributed to the game's early struggles), Squeenix noped out.
Fast forward a decade, and guess who's at the helm of FFXVI (and a senior executive at Squeenix)? Why, it would be the same producer they tried to dick around.
Fast forward a decade, and guess who's at the helm of FFXVI (and a senior executive at Squeenix)? Why, it would be the same producer they tried to dick around.
Which gets to a bigger point - Microsoft is currently in the hole they are in with their gaming division because of their own mismanagement. And as pointed out, they're looking to dig themselves out by spending their way out.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:00 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Mergers and monopolization has always been a terror to me, but this one with the large groups of cheerleader gamers actively vocalizing support for the merger is just disgusting and pathetic. Disgusting because actively cheering against your own interests is anti-human behaviour. Pathetic because these same cheerleaders mistakenly believe this merger will be to their benefit and have the frankly ludicrous idea that things will magically improve once a known bad company buys this other known bad company. Some really fucking stupid math there.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:10 AM on July 12, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:10 AM on July 12, 2023 [6 favorites]
Some, like Pokemon, and produced in partnership with an external company.
Just wanted to note that this isn't exactly accurate. Pokemon is owned by The Pokémon Company, which is jointly owned by Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freaks. Creatures was formerly Ape, famous for the Earthbound/Mother series, and created as a proposal by (and with funding from) then-Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi as a vehicle to promote new game talent. Ape worked closely with HAL Laboratory, a second-party Nintendo developer. Game Freaks is a separate company but has always been very close to Nintendo (to the point that they're currently operating out of a building owned by Nintendo where several of its major divisions are located, the same building housing HAL Laboratory's offices).
All this is to say, while it's true that the Pokemon IP is owned by a legally-distinct entity from Nintendo, it's deeply enmeshed in the Nintendo corporate ecosystem (not to mention that Nintendo also reportedly owns stock in both Creatures and Game Freaks.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:14 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Just wanted to note that this isn't exactly accurate. Pokemon is owned by The Pokémon Company, which is jointly owned by Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freaks. Creatures was formerly Ape, famous for the Earthbound/Mother series, and created as a proposal by (and with funding from) then-Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi as a vehicle to promote new game talent. Ape worked closely with HAL Laboratory, a second-party Nintendo developer. Game Freaks is a separate company but has always been very close to Nintendo (to the point that they're currently operating out of a building owned by Nintendo where several of its major divisions are located, the same building housing HAL Laboratory's offices).
All this is to say, while it's true that the Pokemon IP is owned by a legally-distinct entity from Nintendo, it's deeply enmeshed in the Nintendo corporate ecosystem (not to mention that Nintendo also reportedly owns stock in both Creatures and Game Freaks.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:14 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also, this case represents the continued erosion of antitrust law by the legal theories of an actual traitor.
Bork's legal career should have died the moment he fired Archie Cox, and the fact that it didn't is a large black mark on the American legal community. (It is also not surprising that Bork was involved with the Federalist Society in their nacent years, either.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:17 AM on July 12, 2023 [7 favorites]
Bork's legal career should have died the moment he fired Archie Cox, and the fact that it didn't is a large black mark on the American legal community. (It is also not surprising that Bork was involved with the Federalist Society in their nacent years, either.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:17 AM on July 12, 2023 [7 favorites]
the arguments against this, especially the ones made by Sony themselves, seem hypocritical to me
Yeah, even when you don't like mergers it's been tough watching Sony complain that Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior gets in the way of their own anticompetitive behavior.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:29 AM on July 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
Yeah, even when you don't like mergers it's been tough watching Sony complain that Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior gets in the way of their own anticompetitive behavior.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:29 AM on July 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
"Other exclusives exist" is a bad argument for (more) exclusives being fine. Things being bad is not a good reason to just let them get worse.
posted by Dysk at 8:29 AM on July 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 8:29 AM on July 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
Misquoting the law to make a ruling happen, applying the wrong standards, ignoring evidence and experts, and not recusing when her family is involved.
Is the fish rotting from the head down or is it just easier to highlight the existing ooze after seeing the amount of scum sloughing off Alito and Thomas?
posted by Slackermagee at 8:50 AM on July 12, 2023 [9 favorites]
Is the fish rotting from the head down or is it just easier to highlight the existing ooze after seeing the amount of scum sloughing off Alito and Thomas?
posted by Slackermagee at 8:50 AM on July 12, 2023 [9 favorites]
So the contracts signed to get the CMA to back off will redound to my personal benefit in that I will be even less likely to feel the need to buy a new PC anytime soon thanks to the expanded library of games that should eventually show up on GeForce Now. (Though I'd be happier if it were Sony making that commitment since there are several games I would buy tomorrow if Sony pulled their head out of their ass and let their PC ports be streamed) I also think that this particular merger is no worse than any of the others we've seen in recent years.
That said, I think it is clearly a violation of antitrust law and while it might not exactly be fair that this particular point is where the tide finally turns, there is a mega merger that has to be first. Better sooner than later. Plus, I've about had it with judges deciding that the law means the opposite of what it says just to suit their pet ideology. So go FTC! Appeal with haste!
And maybe somebody ought to get on that whole judicial ethics thing. I'm not one to get angry about judges doing things I don't agree with, but I am getting angry at the trend of their legal reasoning not even rising to the level of flimsy. There's just nowhere to hang a hat on this one. She'd have been better off just saying that the harm to the FTC doesn't justify a TRO because the antitrust case can still continue and the deal be unwound if the FTC wins and left it at that. Instead we get a bunch of rank bullshit.
posted by wierdo at 9:03 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
That said, I think it is clearly a violation of antitrust law and while it might not exactly be fair that this particular point is where the tide finally turns, there is a mega merger that has to be first. Better sooner than later. Plus, I've about had it with judges deciding that the law means the opposite of what it says just to suit their pet ideology. So go FTC! Appeal with haste!
And maybe somebody ought to get on that whole judicial ethics thing. I'm not one to get angry about judges doing things I don't agree with, but I am getting angry at the trend of their legal reasoning not even rising to the level of flimsy. There's just nowhere to hang a hat on this one. She'd have been better off just saying that the harm to the FTC doesn't justify a TRO because the antitrust case can still continue and the deal be unwound if the FTC wins and left it at that. Instead we get a bunch of rank bullshit.
posted by wierdo at 9:03 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
I do think it an interesting challenge to imagine how Activision could be made a worse company than it is now. Honestly I'm coming up a bit empty. If exclusives mean fewer people are exposed to their toxic monetization strategies, that's ... good?
The only silver lining from this whole clusterfuck is that Kotick might finally be given the boot and sent to live on billionaire island, far away from the gaming industry.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 9:41 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
The only silver lining from this whole clusterfuck is that Kotick might finally be given the boot and sent to live on billionaire island, far away from the gaming industry.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 9:41 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Mergers and monopolization has always been a terror to me, but this one with the large groups of cheerleader gamers actively vocalizing support for the merger is just disgusting and pathetic.
A lot of gamers view the case as Sony attacking Microsoft via the FTC, in large part because of how this judge framed the case. It also doesn't help that a lot of necessary context for what the FTC is doing is legal Insider baseball, which makes it hard to explain why it's rather fucked that we have a judiciary that pays credence to the reactionary theories of a man who executed one of the most damaging attacks on American jurisprudence. There's also the issue that there are a lot of anticompetitive actions that can be initially framed as "pro-consumer", so you have a lot of gamers being overly credulous with what Microsoft is saying now, and not looking at what they've done in the past when the shoe is on the other foot.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:45 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
A lot of gamers view the case as Sony attacking Microsoft via the FTC, in large part because of how this judge framed the case. It also doesn't help that a lot of necessary context for what the FTC is doing is legal Insider baseball, which makes it hard to explain why it's rather fucked that we have a judiciary that pays credence to the reactionary theories of a man who executed one of the most damaging attacks on American jurisprudence. There's also the issue that there are a lot of anticompetitive actions that can be initially framed as "pro-consumer", so you have a lot of gamers being overly credulous with what Microsoft is saying now, and not looking at what they've done in the past when the shoe is on the other foot.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:45 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
The parable of the frog and the scorpion, yet again. Why is so much of today's bullshit so easily characterized by idiots believing liars when they say "i won't do the thing i'm built to do, even though in previous situations much like this, I definitely did do the thing, and got in trouble for it!"
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:58 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:58 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Starfield. This right there is what sucks for everyone.
Counter-argument. Bethesda being bought by MS will make this game more available. Because as came out in the hearings, one of the reasons MS bought them is because Sony was going to pay for Starfield to be a PS exclusive. Now it'll be Xbox and PC, instead of PS5 and nothing.
I'm not a fan of all the consolidation by any means, but this is MS just trying to compete in a market where Sony is throwing money around left and right to lock down as many exclusives to Playstation as possible.
And then there's Nintendo, who started this whole exclusive lockdown thing in gaming to begin with. Companies were making their games on each other's systems before Nintendo launched the NES, demanded EVERY game be a 2-year exclusive minimum to appear on their console, have unique features over any other versions, plus a bunch of other crap to try and monopolize the marketplace.
I think the main reason I'm hoping this goes through is that I believe there's a good chance they'll completely purge the utterly disgusting folks in charge of Acti-Blizzard.
posted by evilangela at 10:00 AM on July 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
Counter-argument. Bethesda being bought by MS will make this game more available. Because as came out in the hearings, one of the reasons MS bought them is because Sony was going to pay for Starfield to be a PS exclusive. Now it'll be Xbox and PC, instead of PS5 and nothing.
I'm not a fan of all the consolidation by any means, but this is MS just trying to compete in a market where Sony is throwing money around left and right to lock down as many exclusives to Playstation as possible.
And then there's Nintendo, who started this whole exclusive lockdown thing in gaming to begin with. Companies were making their games on each other's systems before Nintendo launched the NES, demanded EVERY game be a 2-year exclusive minimum to appear on their console, have unique features over any other versions, plus a bunch of other crap to try and monopolize the marketplace.
I think the main reason I'm hoping this goes through is that I believe there's a good chance they'll completely purge the utterly disgusting folks in charge of Acti-Blizzard.
posted by evilangela at 10:00 AM on July 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
"Other exclusives exist" is a bad argument for (more) exclusives being fine. Things being bad is not a good reason to just let them get worse.
Of course not, but it's still gross to see and it feels terrible to halfway root for Sony. It's like watching Disney and DeSantis fighting.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:17 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Of course not, but it's still gross to see and it feels terrible to halfway root for Sony. It's like watching Disney and DeSantis fighting.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:17 AM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm not a fan of all the consolidation by any means, but this is MS just trying to compete in a market where Sony is throwing money around left and right to lock down as many exclusives to Playstation as possible.
No, Microsoft is trying to dig out of a decade+ of mismanagement, the weight of which has now landed solidly on the shoulders of the gaming division. A large part of their failure to compete has been on their heads, and they're hoping people won't notice.
Of course not, but it's still gross to see and it feels terrible to halfway root for Sony.
Viewing this case this way is on you, and it's a large part of why people aren't gripping why this ruling hurts us all.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:28 AM on July 12, 2023
No, Microsoft is trying to dig out of a decade+ of mismanagement, the weight of which has now landed solidly on the shoulders of the gaming division. A large part of their failure to compete has been on their heads, and they're hoping people won't notice.
Of course not, but it's still gross to see and it feels terrible to halfway root for Sony.
Viewing this case this way is on you, and it's a large part of why people aren't gripping why this ruling hurts us all.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:28 AM on July 12, 2023
No, Microsoft is trying to dig out of a decade+ of mismanagement,
You say that as if it's not possible to be both.
posted by evilangela at 10:31 AM on July 12, 2023
You say that as if it's not possible to be both.
posted by evilangela at 10:31 AM on July 12, 2023
Counter-argument. Bethesda being bought by MS will make this game more available. Because as came out in the hearings, one of the reasons MS bought them is because Sony was going to pay for Starfield to be a PS exclusive. Now it'll be Xbox and PC, instead of PS5 and nothing.
I'm not a fan of all the consolidation by any means, but this is MS just trying to compete in a market where Sony is throwing money around left and right to lock down as many exclusives to Playstation as possible.
I mean it'll make the game more available on Microsoft's specific platform. In the same way that Sony has been pivoting to a lot of PC ports of their exclusives.
They're both being greedy in similar types of ways but I'd argue that Microsoft is much worse and more sinister simply b/c we know that they have no respect for antitrust (look at their history) and will absolutely consume an entire market and raise prices and shutdown other competitors in all manner of legal and illegal ways.
All of this is to say that its the illusion of choice when in actuality these companies all collude together and work to grind us to the bone and suck every penny they can.
posted by Fizz at 10:36 AM on July 12, 2023
I'm not a fan of all the consolidation by any means, but this is MS just trying to compete in a market where Sony is throwing money around left and right to lock down as many exclusives to Playstation as possible.
I mean it'll make the game more available on Microsoft's specific platform. In the same way that Sony has been pivoting to a lot of PC ports of their exclusives.
They're both being greedy in similar types of ways but I'd argue that Microsoft is much worse and more sinister simply b/c we know that they have no respect for antitrust (look at their history) and will absolutely consume an entire market and raise prices and shutdown other competitors in all manner of legal and illegal ways.
All of this is to say that its the illusion of choice when in actuality these companies all collude together and work to grind us to the bone and suck every penny they can.
posted by Fizz at 10:36 AM on July 12, 2023
We all know MS are the bad guys, but Sony has a history of making anti-consumer decisions that hurt not only competitors, but other divisions within their own company. And Nintendo was my first encounter with monopolistic practices thanks to the $10 check I got as a kid due to their price fixing scandal.
posted by thecjm at 11:00 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by thecjm at 11:00 AM on July 12, 2023
The only silver lining from this whole clusterfuck is that Kotick might finally be given the boot and sent to live on billionaire island, far away from the gaming industry.
Kotick, in all his crapulence, has been kept around by the Actiblizz shareholders because he's made them absolute fucking scads of money. Microsoft doesn't seem like the kind of firm to sniff at that over moral concerns, no matter how dark the shadow he gleefully casts over the company.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:20 PM on July 12, 2023
Kotick, in all his crapulence, has been kept around by the Actiblizz shareholders because he's made them absolute fucking scads of money. Microsoft doesn't seem like the kind of firm to sniff at that over moral concerns, no matter how dark the shadow he gleefully casts over the company.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:20 PM on July 12, 2023
I pretty much gave up on gaming when the Abe's Odyessee series was made a platform exclusive for a platform I did not ( and could not afford ) have.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:25 PM on July 12, 2023
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:25 PM on July 12, 2023
Kotick, in all his crapulence, has been kept around by the Actiblizz shareholders because he's made them absolute fucking scads of money.
Kotick has been kept around because he is one of the largest shareholders. It's pretty much agreed that this sale is him pulling the cord on his platinum parachute because his fucking around in a few ways is beginning to find out.
You say that as if it's not possible to be both.
I say it the way I did because people ignore how much Microsoft has fucked up in the console market. This retrospective on the Rare-developed 360 launch title Kameo: Elements of Power had an illustration of this at the end - the title, for all its rocky development, wound up being a modest success. As such, Rare proposed a sequel, which would have leaned into the darker vibe MS was wanting - and MS nixed it because the first game wasn't a worldbeater, instead focusing on the trend chasing that has been a hallmark of the company's actions in the console arena.
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:20 PM on July 12, 2023
Kotick has been kept around because he is one of the largest shareholders. It's pretty much agreed that this sale is him pulling the cord on his platinum parachute because his fucking around in a few ways is beginning to find out.
You say that as if it's not possible to be both.
I say it the way I did because people ignore how much Microsoft has fucked up in the console market. This retrospective on the Rare-developed 360 launch title Kameo: Elements of Power had an illustration of this at the end - the title, for all its rocky development, wound up being a modest success. As such, Rare proposed a sequel, which would have leaned into the darker vibe MS was wanting - and MS nixed it because the first game wasn't a worldbeater, instead focusing on the trend chasing that has been a hallmark of the company's actions in the console arena.
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:20 PM on July 12, 2023
Even post-merger, Microsoft-Activision will still be smaller than Sony, passing Nintendo and roughly tied with Tencent for revenue.
This seems fundamentally wrong. MS is a huge company built on a chain of monopolies. Sure Microsoft Gaming is smaller, but they did not make the money that MS is spending here.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 6:28 PM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
This seems fundamentally wrong. MS is a huge company built on a chain of monopolies. Sure Microsoft Gaming is smaller, but they did not make the money that MS is spending here.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 6:28 PM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Counter-argument. Bethesda being bought by MS will make this game more available. Because as came out in the hearings, one of the reasons MS bought them is because Sony was going to pay for Starfield to be a PS exclusive. Now it'll be Xbox and PC, instead of PS5 and nothing.
Is that so? I know that there are articles that claim that, but without giving any sources. What I've seen, and what would match Sony's other deals with Bethesda (Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo), it would have been timed console exclusivity.
In other words, PS5 and PC now, then Xbox a year or so later.
posted by erdferkel at 11:23 PM on July 12, 2023
Is that so? I know that there are articles that claim that, but without giving any sources. What I've seen, and what would match Sony's other deals with Bethesda (Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo), it would have been timed console exclusivity.
In other words, PS5 and PC now, then Xbox a year or so later.
posted by erdferkel at 11:23 PM on July 12, 2023
I would argue that it is not possible to make a game more available than Bethesda. They'll release it a few dozen times, for a dozen platforms. /S
posted by Dysk at 1:49 AM on July 13, 2023
posted by Dysk at 1:49 AM on July 13, 2023
Meanwhile, according to the Steam survey, as a Mac user I'm in the <%1 of gamers (on Steam, a PC-focused platform, admittedly) who would rather take an arrow to the knee than use Microsoft anything. It's disappointing, and I guess I'd be pretty fucked if it weren't for cross platform engines that mostly exist to get console games on PC and vice-versa, and Mac users are just happy to take whatever scraps. Ha ha, remember when Bungie was a Mac shop? Ha ha.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:25 AM on July 13, 2023
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:25 AM on July 13, 2023
It's also worth pointing out that this ruling marks another data point in the continuing story of the lack of judicial ethics in the federal judiciary, as the judge's son works for Microsoft - yet she refused to recuse herself.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:11 PM on July 14, 2023
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:11 PM on July 14, 2023
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"Corley’s decision is quite a stunner, and I very much hope the Federal Trade Commission appeals, not just to save the video game industry, but because Corley is actually helping to shape the law in very dangerous ways."
(I did learn from this post that the judge's son works for Microsoft which is wild to say the least)
posted by okonomichiyaki at 5:23 AM on July 12, 2023 [28 favorites]