Microsoft/Activision deal will win EU approval, sources say
- Thread starter JournalBot
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Kind of sounds like it from the article. Talking about a third party monitor for instance for bad behavior.
But agreed that's honestly my biggest problem with mergers, nobody actually sticks by what they claim to get approval.
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And lo, the merger was saved becasue lawyers were promised they could still play CoD on their Playstations so they would stop whining like little babies. And it was so.
Anyone else kinda pissed this makes it seem like the whole reason the merge was in trouble was personal complaints over any legal basis? It's getting old people tossing around the word monopoly without having a clue what it means.
Anyone else kinda pissed this makes it seem like the whole reason the merge was in trouble was personal complaints over any legal basis? It's getting old people tossing around the word monopoly without having a clue what it means.
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What, you're saying that T-Mobile merger that was going to create jobs was a lie, too? I'm sure they were held accountable.
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As someone who has Game Pass Ultimate paid up until July 2025 thanks to various promotions, I approve of this.
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I think some regulators did a decent job looking this over, but I don't think the merger has ever been in serious trouble.
Maybe the deal with Nintendo added some solidity to the promise, though. Smooth move, Microsoft.
Maybe the deal with Nintendo added some solidity to the promise, though. Smooth move, Microsoft.
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I feel the same. I want someone to treat the Blizzard/Starcraft/Warcraft IP with respect.
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The jobs bit was bullshit. The big customer benefit to the merger was that Sprint had a bunch of 2.5 GHz spectrum from their WiMAX days they weren’t making good use of. The merged company was able to quickly roll out mid-band Ultra Capacity 5G and dramatically improve their 5G speeds in a lot of areas very quickly.
AT&T and Verizon are still playing catch-up with C-Band spectrum, so the larger T-Mobile has been much more competitive in the market than and has put a lot more pressure on the other two carriers than T-Mobile or Sprint would have been by themselves. AT&T and Verizon are probably a year behind T-Mobile with their mid-band deployment. I have AT&T and I am only now starting to see 5G+ pop up on my phone while T-Mobile has had 5G UC available in my area for over a year based off the test drives I did with my iPhone. I also did a test with Verizon and they also only recently deployed C-band in my area.
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I will only approve of this concentration of power if they officially change their name to "BAM" (meaning Blizzard-Activision-Microsoft).
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I know people hate Microsoft but they do have precedent. They bought Minecraft and still have it on non Microsoft platforms.
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If you all think Activision will be rid of all its sex pests once the deal closes, you're deluding yourself.
This industry is consolidating itself into a creative pit.
This industry is consolidating itself into a creative pit.
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So we can all rest easy about this deal, and the market as a whole - cause after all, they say we can still play CoD on our PS?
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It dosent really matter about the U.K., try as we might we never manage to enforce what the public and parliament have been told are legally binding agreements.
Usually when we try to enforce it, it goes something like this “that contract isn’t legally binding in America and we’re an American company so fuck off” and then we back down.
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They really did manage to make it all about one franchise. I mean, sure it's one of the largest franchises period, but in a way I suppose it shows just how little Activision has been doing otherwise lately. Still, too much consolidation going on in the games industry these days to my taste.
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It baffles me that we're so deep into this process and yet somehow Sony isn't coming out of this looking like huge hypocrites. They are essentially comic book villains when it comes to buying up console exclusivity for games from 3P publishers, they are consistently the ones that won't participate in cross-play even when every other platform is onboard, and Microsoft has a proven track record with Minecraft of allowing purchased studios to continue selling everywhere.
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Personally, not really because it kinda proves the point of having too much IP under one owner (especially a platform owner). I hate the fact that CoD is the only game they really mention, but whatever. I don't think I've touch an Acti-Blizz branded game in over a decade anyway. (Ever since online distro became the norm; I was on Stardock/Impulse until that went under thanks to GameStop. I'm on GoG only now, or direct purchases. No Steam.)
I still think the sale is a bad idea overall, but like anyone will listen to me anyway.
The thing that pisses me off more is the apparent fact that this sale was pitched right after all the sexual harassment allegations, causing people to focus on the sale instead of the welfare of Acti-Blizz employees.
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and you get downvoted for pointing out basic info. Typical. MS did bite back at Sony through the FTC bullshit here and a judge recently ruled that Sony has to reveal all their deals (and possible attempted deals) for exclusivity the past few years. So there's a little something to look forward to. Sony has been acting worse than Intel used to, and it's ridiculous people still can't see it.
Personally, I'm hoping MS takes the gloves off with Sony and makes some part of COD gamepass only so gamepass has to be allowed on PSN if they want COD. Would be nice if they planned something exclusive or at least a gamepass release for Diablo 4 too, but it's probably releasing too soon for plans to change.
p.s. mods - Are you seeing why this voting shit is a bad idea yet? You literally have Sony fanboys here getting simple informative comments hidden because they hate MS so much. Drop this shit already.
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I've always thought of ars as a relatively educated group but for some reason this topic brings the oddest responses. Must be a lot of Sony fanboys out there. It's like the disconnect I get whenever I hear Donald trump and his supporters accusing his political opponents of trying to do the things he is well documented having done. Sony is a shit show of anti consumer shenanigans and it pisses me off that I still can't play ff7 remake because of it. Unless I want to buy a Sony console.
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Ugh. This is not good for the consumer, but I hope that at the very least they clean up Blizzard and remove the bad actors.
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TheGuyWithANickname
Smack-Fu Master, in training
Sony has no rights here, it's not a judiciary procedure but a legal one between a branch of the EU's executive power and Microsoft. In this context of being heared among others, there's nothing wrong by defending a contractual advantage against what could become a market one.
Especially when it's given to Microsoft, because PlayStation need to maintain a complete solution for their hardware around a dedicated OS, APIs, libraries, framework, devkits etc. Like Nintendo their sucess is strongly tied to that sofware independence.
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Yet, their same "independence" is what costed them the handheld market entirely with those ridiculous Vita memory cards. In the end, none of it benefits the consumer. How many times has Sony's shit been hacked compared to MS consoles? They'd be better off running windows and allowing gamepass. Independence isn't always good. Look at all the launchers on PC that everyone fucking hates. That's where independence gets you.
People buy Nintendo and Sony's shit primarily because they like the first party games. Nobody gives a fuck about their APIs, etc. If anything, the PS3 put off devs because it was a bitch to work with. Nintendo's shit hardware puts off a lot of 3rd party devs as well because it's weak as shit. Whereas, if there was no exclusivity, people could enjoy the games they like on the hardware of their choice with the controller of their choice.
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I remember MS’s stupid proprietary hdd for the 360 and they gave is lovely pay-to-play online.
Sorry but none of em has your interests in mind. To think people go to bat for companies that would sell you into slavery for a couple more bucks. Jesus help us.
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Bringing in nintendo for no reason isnt going to do you any favors.
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I like how regulators just roll over with a promise of "we won't engage in anticompetitive behavior for <time period> after the merger".
With the implication being "once <time period> is over, you bet we're gonna anticompetitive the fuck out of this shit!"
. o O (And by "like" I mean "despise and am revolted by".)
With the implication being "once <time period> is over, you bet we're gonna anticompetitive the fuck out of this shit!"
. o O (And by "like" I mean "despise and am revolted by".)
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I dont believe Sony's hypocrisy has gone unnoticed. In fact, I predict the next time they try to acquire someone, the entire game industry will come down on them like bricks in a falling house, especially if they dont promise to provide continuous publishing rights on other platforms like Microsoft have done.
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It should be blocked.
If it’s ‘John’s house of indies’ whatever. If it’s Square then nope.
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