UK Blocks Microsoft / Blizzard Merger

[Zenfoldor]

If the CMA had not blocked the deal, would the merger have happened in time to get Diablo 4 on gamepass day 1?

[Edge-]

If the CMA had not blocked the deal, would the merger have happened in time to get Diablo 4 on gamepass day 1?

No. The Bethesda deal, which was an order of magnitude smaller in terms of dollar amount ($7B vs. $70B) and included far fewer studios and IP's, took around 6ish months to close. It will be some time for the deal to formally conclude if they do receive approval from the CMA and any other outstanding regulators.

[rhorle]

If the CMA had not blocked the deal, would the merger have happened in time to get Diablo 4 on gamepass day 1?

Blizzard said they have no plans for it to be on Game Pass. That could have changed if the deal closed sooner but it seems like it wasn't even on the table.

[Zenfoldor]

No. The Bethesda deal, which was an order of magnitude smaller in terms of dollar amount ($7B vs. $70B) and included far fewer studios and IP's, took around 6ish months to close. It will be some time for the deal to formally conclude if they do receive approval from the CMA and any other outstanding regulators.

Thanks, appreciate the info.

[TbouncerT]

What games from Bethesda are exclusive to Xbox? Becaus last time I checked, all their games release on PC, even on Steam who is a huge competitor on the PC market.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1716740/Starfield/

I dont see how the games not being on Playstation makes them exclusive, yet Sony frequently pays off 3rd party developers to keep games exclusive on their platforms, the biggest titles being the recent Final Fantasy games. And somehow that is OK but the Activision Blizzard deal is somehow awful for consumers.

It seems like you don't know, but PC generally is immune to exclusives. The exclusives tend to only apply to the console market. An example is the FF7 remake is on PC and PS and not Xbox (same with God of War, etc).

[beanman12345]

It seems like you don't know, but PC generally is immune to exclusives. The exclusives tend to only apply to the console market. An example is the FF7 remake is on PC and PS and not Xbox (same with God of War, etc).

I wish this resembled the truth, main reason I bought a PS5 is because I don't want to wait years to play the new final fantasy, especially the remakes, because of their exclusivity deals to Sony consoles.

[Bakis]

Sony didn't focus on anything, they simply opposed the deal outright and everything about it. It was the regulators themselves that focused purely on CoD for the most part, because it's a revenue monster.

Deal got blocked because the CMA doesn't want the future cloud market to be reliant on MS, nothing to do with Sony for the record.

They based their entire argumentation as a whole around CoD as the main talking point and example.
I agree with SONY but I see SONY doing the same as far as buying up studios to the left and right just like MS.

The current trend is fucked up for consumers, soon its two major players (not counting Nintendo platform) that has a way too large share each of the market. There will be more exclusives, less indie studios and most importantly a streamlining of games.
Without smaller studios and indie studios we will go more towards just pumping out franchises like Assassins Creed, CoD, etc. and in essence get a smaller diversity of games to choose from as consumers.

[Biomega]

I wish this resembled the truth, main reason I bought a PS5 is because I don't want to wait years to play the new final fantasy, especially the remakes, because of their exclusivity deals to Sony consoles.

Exclusives and timed exclusives aren't the same thing. Timed exclusives aren't all that uncommon, especially for big-name titles like FF - usually it takes about a year for a new FF title to make it to PC... but they DO make it to PC. Whereas they will in all likelihood NEVER be available on Xbox (in the foreseeable future).

There's still a bunch of games, especially Japanese ones, that never make it to PC and that stay console exclusives, but a lot of them are very specific niche games. Many don't even get a Western release at all, or not for many years. And of course there's vastly more PC games that never make it to consoles, too.

Things are changing, though, slowly but surely. Japan does recognize the PC market exists now, and more and more stuff is either ported after the fact, or planned from the beginning to eventually be released on PC.

[beanman12345]

Exclusives and timed exclusives aren't the same thing. Timed exclusives aren't all that uncommon, especially for big-name titles like FF - usually it takes about a year for a new FF title to make it to PC... but they DO make it to PC. Whereas they will in all likelihood NEVER be available on Xbox (in the foreseeable future).

There's still a bunch of games, especially Japanese ones, that never make it to PC and that stay console exclusives, but a lot of them are very specific niche games. Many don't even get a Western release at all, or not for many years. And of course there's vastly more PC games that never make it to consoles, too.

Things are changing, though, slowly but surely. Japan does recognize the PC market exists now, and more and more stuff is either ported after the fact, or planned from the beginning to eventually be released on PC.

exclusive is exclusive. Whether it's a forever exclusive or not, it's still exclusive. Microsoft does day 1 on PC, Sony does exclusive no pc for however long. That was guy's point, and he's right.

[Biomega]

exclusive is exclusive. Whether it's a forever exclusive or not, it's still exclusive.

That's just... not true. Because timed exclusives STOP being exclusive, and then it's NOT "still exclusive". You're objectively wrong there.

That doesn't mean you can't hate both forms of exclusivity, of course, that's totally legitimate; but they're just literally not the same thing, by definition.

[beanman12345]

That's just... not true. Because timed exclusives STOP being exclusive, and then it's NOT "still exclusive". You're objectively wrong there.

That doesn't mean you can't hate both forms of exclusivity, of course, that's totally legitimate; but they're just literally not the same thing, by definition.

When something stops being something it's stops being something. Yeah no duh, do you have an actual argument?

[Biomega]

When something stops being something it's stops being something. Yeah no duh, do you have an actual argument?

I don't think I need anything else here, you've just agreed with me

[beanman12345]

I don't think I need anything else here, you've just agreed with me

I agree you have no argument, and you apparently never had one. Other guy is still right, and saying PC is immune to exclusivity is still bullshit.

Guy with cancer, beats cancer, doesn't have cancer anymore. He still had cancer. Cancer is still cancer. Exclusivity is still exclusivity. Words have meanings, even if you claim they don't.

[Surfd]

Guy with cancer, beats cancer, doesn't have cancer anymore. He still had cancer. Cancer is still cancer. Exclusivity is still exclusivity. Words have meanings, even if you claim they don't.

Cancer may still be cancer, but he NO LONGER HAS IT.
Do you have cancer? No. The fact that he had cancer in the past is no longer relevant when discussing the state of the "now".
Are the Horizon games Playstation Exclusive? No. Doesn't matter if they might have been when they first launched, they aren't any more, which is all that matters.

[Tech614]

They based their entire argumentation as a whole around CoD as the main talking point and example.

They didn't. This is false. Sony opposed the deal outright, they didn't say "oh we're ok with the deal if MS promises to leave CoD on our platform". In fact they out right declined promise deals to do just that. Again irrelevant to the thread as the CMA didn't block the deal over the console market so Sony in the end had nothing to do with this.

[beanman12345]

Cancer may still be cancer, but he NO LONGER HAS IT.

Yes I literally stated exactly that.

Do you have cancer? No.

no I used a word to explain how words work...

Are the Horizon games Playstation Exclusive? No. Doesn't matter if they might have been when they first launched, they aren't any more, which is all that matters.

I can play horizon forbidden west on PC? No. Because it is in fact exclusive. JFC...

Guys I don't care who wins. I have a PS5. I'll likely buy a ps6 and ps7 when they launch. I don't have a horse in this show, and don't care about your console wars. I don't and likely won't ever own a xbox anything cause I can play ALL their games day 1 on PC.

[Tech614]

Are the Horizon games Playstation Exclusive?

As of right now? Forbidden West, its stand alone xpac and call of the mountain are indeed all still playstation exclusive.

[peterjoseph1310]

Honestly what I believe is that blocking/banning is not something that can lead to a soltion. Instead there must be a way to sort out these problems by sitting on the bench.

[Bakis]

They didn't. This is false. Sony opposed the deal outright, they didn't say "oh we're ok with the deal if MS promises to leave CoD on our platform". In fact they out right declined promise deals to do just that. Again irrelevant to the thread as the CMA didn't block the deal over the console market so Sony in the end had nothing to do with this.

Yea, I re-watched parts of Hoeg Law videos on the subject, you are right.

I highly recommend his channel for anyone interested in the legal aspects of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzPu...-ROfumOtIrSdP8
He has done 60 episodes of his Microsoft x Activision serie so far, covering all twists and turns as time has passed since the acquisition was announced. From a legalality standpoint.

[Nymrohd]

So after China also allowed the merger it seems we have part of the strategy for Microsoft's appeal of the CMA's decision.
https://twitter.com/FOSSpatents/stat...531482121?s=20
One of the Senior Directors of the CMA that was directly involved in the decision formerly worked for a law firm representing SONY. If true, they just got themselves a solid case for conflict of interest.