Microsoft Microsoft/Activision Blizzard Acquisition - Information Thread, update: The Deal Has Closed

[AbsolutSurgen]

 

[Ghost_MH]

24 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

I never had a problem with it. You just connect all your accounts on the website/app.

 

In all fairness, I haven't even tried using it since it first launched way back when. The number of movies I actually outright buy are far and free in between these days and nearly all of them are children's movies my kids desperately want to see while I have zero desire attempting to get a 5yo autistic girl to sit in a chair for two hours straight.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Does it actually work well now? Support used to be so janky.

 

39 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

I never had a problem with it. You just connect all your accounts on the website/app.

Yeah, I never had any issues with it. It syncs my library (of participating studios) across Vudu, iTunes, and Amazon quite well. It doesn’t matter as much now, but there used to be a huge disparity in App performance depending on the device, so for some unused Vudu, others iTunes, and others Amazon. But I still like that I have the options.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

On 5/15/2023 at 1:12 PM, XxEvil AshxX said:

"Free license access?" 

 

What does that mean? It can't mean that any service provider would have access to host the game without paying for it? 

 

Microsoft president clarifies EU cloud agreement, popular games will be 'automatically' licensed to competitors and 'this will apply globally' | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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This is what got the Activision Blizzard deal over the line with EU regulators.

 

 

Quote

Microsoft offered the following commitments, all with a 10-year duration:

• A free license to consumers in the EEA that would allow them to stream, via any cloud game streaming services of their choice, all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games for which they have a license.
• A corresponding free license to cloud game streaming service providers to allow EEA-based gamers to stream any [of] Activision Blizzard's PC and console games.

The EU reckons these "fully address" concerns, and "represent a significant improvement for cloud game streaming compared to the current situation".

 

Now Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith has filled-in the details on exactly what Microsoft has promised here. "The European Commission has required Microsoft to license popular Activision Blizzard games automatically to competing cloud gaming services," said Smith. "This will apply globally and will empower millions of consumers worldwide to play these games on any device they choose."

 

[SuperSpreader]

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I’ve seen people say that EU and the CMA shouldn’t be worried about cloud gaming, because we’re at least 10 years away from could gaming being a viable platform. Which really points out how hollow and meaningless these 10 year agreements for cloud services are as concessions, because obviously MS believes the same thing. And then in 10 years MS won’t have to make any concessions if the deal is approved now. 

[Brian]

Microsoft Reportedly Gets China Regulator Approval on ABK Deal

WCCFTECH.COM

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According to a report issued by Dealreporter and shared today by Seeking Alpha, Microsoft has obtained the approval of the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation...

 

Hey CMA

[SuperSpreader]

When the videogame crash of 2037 happens people will be able to trace it back to the moment this deal goes through. 

[Brian]

EU explains Microsoft Activision deal approval - and why it disagrees with the UK's block

T.CO

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The boss of the European Commission has explained in detail why her agency approved Microsoft's $68.7bn Activision Bliz…

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 minute ago, Brian said:

EU explains Microsoft Activision deal approval - and why it disagrees with the UK's block

T.CO

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The boss of the European Commission has explained in detail why her agency approved Microsoft's $68.7bn Activision Bliz…

 

 

I genuinely don't think I've ever seen a situation where the various market competition authorities are taking such great pains to explain why the conclusions that they reached differ from the conclusions reached by other bodies.

[SuperSpreader]

2 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

 

I genuinely don't think I've ever seen a situation where the various market competition authorities are taking such great pains to explain why the conclusions that they reached differ from the conclusions reached by other bodies.

 

I wonder if Bobby is feeding them talking points. 🤣 All these people are corrupt/know each other. 

[silentbob]

5 hours ago, SuperSpreader said:

 

I wonder if Bobby is feeding them talking points. 🤣 All these people are corrupt/know each other. 

 

Well, you might not be too far off

 

A CMA director, who blocked Microsoft's Xbox-Activision merger, previously worked for a Sony law firm (Update) | Windows Central

WWW.WINDOWSCENTRAL.COM

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Conflict of interest identified?

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Microsoft's appeal against UK Activision Blizzard block pencilled in for late July

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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Microsoft's appeal against the UK Competition and Merger Authority's decision to reject its Activision Blizzard deal ha…

 

Quote

 

Microsoft's appeal against the UK Competition and Merger Authority's decision to reject its Activision Blizzard deal has been given a preliminary 24th July start date.

 

The CMA made the shock decision to block Microsoft proposed $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard in April, highlighting concerns relating to the burgeoning cloud gaming sector and arguing the deal would risk "stifling competition in this growing market".

 

And now, following the recent publication of Microsoft's summary of application to appeal the CMA's decision - in which it accused the UK regulator of making "fundamental errors in its assessment" - the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal has held a case management conference to iron out preliminary details of the hearing between Microsoft and the CMA.

 

Ultimately, despite Microsoft pushing for a June hearing and the CMA's legal representation arguing for a later date, the Honourable Mr Justice Marcus Smith, presiding for the CAT, moved to provisionally schedule the hearing for the ten working days beginning 24th July.

 

While the CAT acknowledged it was unlikely the appeal would require all ten days, it suggested six days - an increase on the four requested by Microsoft - might be a more appropriate timeframe for the hearing, encouraging both parties to consider longer rather than shorter oral submissions given the complexities of the case.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The CAT judge took the CMA to task for requesting that the hearing be set for October/November and sided with MS for the July timeframe.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Oh boy - the CAT judge said that he doesn't believe that there's any substantive difference in market definition between cloud gaming and console gaming.

 

That perceived difference represents the entirety of the crux of the CMA's objection to the deal!

 

At this point, it appears that the CMA is going to have a pretty steep hill to climb for its decision to withstand appeal.

[Bacon]

cloud gaming isn't even real

i don't see no cloud, let alone any games in it

[Brian]

1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Oh boy - the CAT judge said that he doesn't believe that there's any substantive difference in market definition between cloud gaming and console gaming.

 

That perceived difference represents the entirety of the crux of the CMA's objection to the deal!

 

At this point, it appears that the CMA is going to have a pretty steep hill to climb for its decision to withstand appeal.

Reading some timelines, CMA should have spent more time on its case instead of throwing shade at everyone. I doubt CMA will settle but it was definitely not a good day for them. 

[Keyser_Soze]

5 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

At this point, it appears that the CMA is going to have a pretty steep hill to climb for its decision to withstand appeal.

 

It's decision was waiting for Sony to reveal their cloud gaming thing

 

PlayStation says it will soon reveal ‘aggressive’ plans for cloud gaming | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM

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Jim Ryan teases "interesting" take on the feature…

 

[DPCyric]

12 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

It's decision was waiting for Sony to reveal their cloud gaming thing

 

PlayStation says it will soon reveal ‘aggressive’ plans for cloud gaming | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM

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Jim Ryan teases "interesting" take on the feature…

 

 

"Aggressive" Plans include releasing your first party titles on it 6 months after they launch (probably) 

[Guest]

On 5/30/2023 at 4:03 PM, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Oh boy - the CAT judge said that he doesn't believe that there's any substantive difference in market definition between cloud gaming and console gaming.

 

That perceived difference represents the entirety of the crux of the CMA's objection to the deal!

 

At this point, it appears that the CMA is going to have a pretty steep hill to climb for its decision to withstand appeal.

Yeah, I’m guessing the betting odds are in favor of CAT overturning the CMA and basically telling them if they think everything else is fine they can’t apply a different standard to Cloud for spurious reasons.

[Xbob42]

On 5/30/2023 at 2:03 PM, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Oh boy - the CAT judge said that he doesn't believe that there's any substantive difference in market definition between cloud gaming and console gaming.

 

That perceived difference represents the entirety of the crux of the CMA's objection to the deal!

 

At this point, it appears that the CMA is going to have a pretty steep hill to climb for its decision to withstand appeal.

I mean I agree, I don't see why they think there's a huge difference. It's just a different way to deliver games, just like digital vs physical.

[crispy4000]

Cloud gaming represents, at best, a new game delivery medium that’s as much of a paradigm shift as handhelds or smart phones once were.
 

At worst, it’s nothing.  Like the Steam Link was nothing.

 

But it is something different.  The whole idea of streaming in console quality games you don’t own through a subscription, on your smart TV, tablet and phone, is something new.

[AbsolutSurgen]

14 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

Cloud gaming represents, at best, a new game delivery medium that’s as much of a paradigm shift as handhelds or smart phones once were.
 

At worst, it’s nothing.  Like the Steam Link was nothing.

 

But it is something different.  The whole idea of streaming in console quality games you don’t own through a subscription, on your smart TV, tablet and phone, is something new.

That's the rub.  No one knows if it will become ubiquitous in 5-years, or will be a non-event.

 

It's not really "new" though -- we're near 20-years in from when G-Cluster tried to launch the first service.

 

At some point, I do expect the technology will evolve to a level where games are streamed just like music and movies.  It just may not be in the near future.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Everyone is hammering the CMA and Kahn at the FTC asking why they don’t want the deal to go through. Nobody else is answering why they so badly want it succeed. 

 

ABK is not on the verge of collapse. MS is not saving thousands of jobs. What’s more likely is within a couple years of the deal going through ABK will actually downsize by at least several hundred employees as they merge parts of the companies. 

[crispy4000]

 

25 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

That's the rub.  No one knows if it will become ubiquitous in 5-years, or will be a non-event.

 

It's not really "new" though -- we're near 20-years in from when G-Cluster tried to launch the first service.

 

At some point, I do expect the technology will evolve to a level where games are streamed just like music and movies.  It just may not be in the near future.

 

That's why the subscription catalog + building it into TVs is "new."  That's one of their big entry points that has yet to gain much traction, but could over time.

[Xbob42]

14 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

But it is something different.  The whole idea of streaming in console quality games you don’t own through a subscription, on your smart TV, tablet and phone, is something new.

No, it isn't. OnLive, GaiKai, PSNow, xCloud, whatever nVidia's shit is called. What you're describing as "new" is just different screens you can play these games on, it isn't novel at all in any meaningful way that I can see being even remotely relevant to this deal. Fuckin' quarter century old tech just going through the motions of adapting to new business models and different devices it can be displayed on, and even that's not new.

[crispy4000]

52 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

No, it isn't. OnLive, GaiKai, PSNow, xCloud, whatever nVidia's shit is called. What you're describing as "new" is just different screens you can play these games on, it isn't novel at all in any meaningful way that I can see being even remotely relevant to this deal. Fuckin' quarter century old tech just going through the motions of adapting to new business models and different devices it can be displayed on, and even that's not new.

 

I'm not saying the technology is new.  I'm saying the buisness model is.  There's no game ownership requirement.  You don't have to be invested at all outside of the subscription.  And now, you might already have an xCloud app on your TV.

 

I'd also only consider xCloud and nVidia's services to be, well, serviceable.  Google's too, but it's dead, because their business model was stuck in the past.  Stream quality and latency reduction has evolved to a point today where, in theory, its viable.  We only got to that point <5 years ago.  Sony's cloud service is a perfect example of why older streaming solutions (GaiKai) are garbage by comparison.

[Ghost_MH]

14 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

Cloud gaming represents, at best, a new game delivery medium that’s as much of a paradigm shift as handhelds or smart phones once were.
 

At worst, it’s nothing.  Like the Steam Link was nothing.

 

But it is something different.  The whole idea of streaming in console quality games you don’t own through a subscription, on your smart TV, tablet and phone, is something new.

 

I wonder how much the industry can actually survive on subscription revenue, alone. Streamers are having a tougher time with revenue and even Netflix is looking to insert commercials in their bottom tier. Meanwhile, streaming games requires even more processing and a ton more bandwidth on the datacenter-side than Disney needs for Disney+.

[crispy4000]

14 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

I wonder how much the industry can actually survive on subscription revenue, alone. Streamers are having a tougher time with revenue and even Netflix is looking to insert commercials in their bottom tier. Meanwhile, streaming games requires even more processing and a ton more bandwidth on the datacenter-side than Disney needs for Disney+.

 

Content production costs are probably the bigger issue.  As with gaming.

 

But Microsoft also has leverage those companies don't.  They still get get royalties for direct purchases, including DLC.  And they lock out content - online multiplayer, EA Games on console - unless you pay them an extra monthly fee or buy the Ultimate package.

[crispy4000]

And wow, checking sources for that post, I learned EA Play isn't offered with the basic console tier of Games Pass, but is with PC Games Pass, at the exact same price.

 

That's some scummy BS.

[Ghost_MH]

50 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

Content production costs are probably the bigger issue.  As with gaming.

 

But Microsoft also has leverage those companies don't.  They still get get royalties for direct purchases, including DLC.  And they lock out content - online multiplayer, EA Games on console - unless you pay them an extra monthly fee or buy the Ultimate package.

 

It works for first party content, but not for third party content that would be reliant on platform holders. When cloud gaming becomes seamless enough, do you think most would bother buying a hardware when there's the right software built right into their TVs? How well are blu-ray players selling these days?

[Guest]

I do think @crispy4000 is bringing up a meaningful distinction here in the business model issue, more so than the generic technology issue. There is probably much more room for real competition in cloud gaming subscription platforms than in building consumer electronic hardware platforms.

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

It works for first party content, but not for third party content that would be reliant on platform holders.

 

If game streaming ever becomes mainstream, we'll see publishers splinter off with their own subscriptions just like with video services.  Or partner with Amazon for it, like Ubisoft is already doing.

 

1 hour ago, Ghost_MH said:

When cloud gaming becomes seamless enough, do you think most would bother buying a hardware when there's the right software built right into their TVs? How well are blu-ray players selling these days?

 

The mainstream has to be sold on video game subscription libraries more than they already are.  I think there's potential for us to eventually end up there.

 

But if the games industry was being honest with itself, I don't think they can afford to charge the same for their subscriptions as Netflix/Disney+/etc.  In an industry that sells games for $70 a pop, it likely needs to be more.  There hasn't been a lot said about how hungry subscription audiences are for MTX purchases, which is kind of the wild card.

 

Being cost prohibitive would likely keep the status quo going for a good, long time.

 

38 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I do think @crispy4000 is bringing up a meaningful distinction here in the business model issue, more so than the generic technology issue. There is probably much more room for real competition in cloud gaming subscription platforms than in building consumer electronic hardware platforms.

 

I think Amazon could slide into this as a major player before people realize it.  Surely they have larger plans for Luna.

 

It's incredibly odd to me how little they've been brought up in these proceedings.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

2 hours ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

I wonder how much the industry can actually survive on subscription revenue, alone. Streamers are having a tougher time with revenue and even Netflix is looking to insert commercials in their bottom tier. Meanwhile, streaming games requires even more processing and a ton more bandwidth on the datacenter-side than Disney needs for Disney+.

They’ll treat retail games like Freemium and F2P games. The base game is free, but you have to pay extra for DLC. Oh and here’s a Battle Pass. How about the ability to skip 10+ levels of the battle pass. Cosmetic packs. 
 

major publishers already have the how. The problem was many of them tried to do it too soon while they were charging $60+ for game too. *cough*Ubisoft and EA*cough*. 

[Ghost_MH]

1 hour ago, crispy4000 said:

The mainstream has to be sold on video game subscription libraries more than they already are.  I think there's potential for us to eventually end up there.

 

But if the games industry was being honest with itself, I don't think they can afford to charge the same for their subscriptions as Netflix/Disney+/etc.  In an industry that sells games for $70 a pop, it likely needs to be more.  There hasn't been a lot said about how hungry subscription audiences are for MTX purchases, which is kind of the wild card.

 

Being cost prohibitive would likely keep the status quo going for a good, long time.

 

That's my sentiment. Like, I think, if Disney could turn back time, they'd have been a little more judicial on moving movies to Disney+ as soon as they did in the early days of Disney+ and peak COVID. It's wild to me that an industry as large as gaming that managed to kill the rental scene and regularly sees its customers pay upward of $70 per game would willingly switch to an all you can eat subscription model. This benefits the Microsofts and Amazons of the world far more than it does most game developers.

 

I do wonder if a greater push for subscription services from Microsoft and Sony would move some smaller devs to PC and Nintendo hardware even more than they already have.