UK Blocks Microsoft’s $69 Billion Activision Deal

[Elegiac]

They won't do that

Fifa and Call of Duty are the biggest selling games in the UK every single year, it is an absolutely huge market

Yeah, no - the entire UK gaming market is valued at about a tenth of what Microsoft is paying for ATVI, let alone potential revenues from the proposed integrated cloud gaming service in the EU, the US, and China. Britain's market pull is nowhere near sufficient to deter it given the latter three markets have either approved the merger or are very likely to.

[MCMLXXXII]

As dribbles would say: another Brexit benefit. Making you marketshare a dwarf compared to others.

[Kiria]

This will upset a few gamers;

https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/05/m...ulatory-block/

[richardhuntr]

Something tells me this won't happen, the UK provides something like 11% of the money Activision makes if I remember correctly.

It also doesn't mean you can't play WoW in the UK, as they can just sell here via a distributor

[Draco-Onis]

Something tells me this won't happen, the UK provides something like 11% of the money Activision makes if I remember correctly.

It also doesn't mean you can't play WoW in the UK, as they can just sell here via a distributor

I don't think that's accurate considering China only accounted as single digits for them maybe you are thinking the EU as a whole doubt the UK alone accounts for much.

[Elegiac]

Something tells me this won't happen, the UK provides something like 11% of the money Activision makes if I remember correctly.

It also doesn't mean you can't play WoW in the UK, as they can just sell here via a distributor

For the reasons detailed above, Microsoft would lose more money pulling out of the merger than it'd make by dropping the UK from ATVI product coverage.

[richardhuntr]

The article above shows that they would still sell the games via distributor, so what does them pulling out actually change for UK players, other than a chance of name on the reciepts?

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/91274...ion/index.html No it's deffo 11% of the money is from the UK.

[Draco-Onis]

The article above shows that they would still sell the games via distributor, so what does them pulling out actually change for UK players, other than a chance of name on the reciepts?

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/91274...ion/index.html No it's deffo 11% of the money is from the UK.

Less than a billion dollars a year would be a small price to pay for Microsoft to acquire Blizzard the stock price is irrelevant since they already have a buy offer. From their perspective worse case scenario they would gaining 89%+ of ATVI's revenue every year and all that intellectual property versus zero from backing down from the acquisition.

If the US approves of the merger there's no mathematical reason not to move forward.

[richardhuntr]

This is true, however even if they do pull out, it doesn't necessarily mean anything for gamers, they could use a distributor for UK sales.
As such, while it's a huge deal in the business world, does it actually mean much for WoW players in the UK, other than who they pay, even if they do pull out?

[Bakis]

This is true, however even if they do pull out, it doesn't necessarily mean anything for gamers, they could use a distributor for UK sales.
As such, while it's a huge deal in the business world, does it actually mean much for WoW players in the UK, other than who they pay, even if they do pull out?

It shouldnt mean anything to the UK consumers. If the UK CMA appeal gets denied and BLZ would somehow take some sort of action that would deteriorate the revenue from the UK playerbase then BLZ would get smacked with instant law suits in US by shareholders.
What's worse than losing? Losing more.

[Draco-Onis]

It shouldnt mean anything to the UK consumers. If the UK CMA appeal gets denied and BLZ would somehow take some sort of action that would deteriorate the revenue from the UK playerbase then BLZ would get smacked with instant law suits in US by shareholders.
What's worse than losing? Losing more.

Not really shareholders are getting bought out by Microsoft they have no reason to sue Blizzard because getting acquired maximizes the value of the stock as it is has created an artificial cap. If the deal doesn't go through Blizzard stock would tank and they would get a lower bid if they were to find another buyer.

[Nymrohd]

Not really shareholders are getting bought out by Microsoft they have no reason to sue Blizzard because getting acquired maximizes the value of the stock as it is has created an artificial cap. If the deal doesn't go through Blizzard stock would tank and they would get a lower bid if they were to find another buyer.

Heck they just had a stellar launch with D4 but it just will not be reflected on stocks because they are so inflated while waiting for the merger.

[richardhuntr]

It shouldnt mean anything to the UK consumers. If the UK CMA appeal gets denied and BLZ would somehow take some sort of action that would deteriorate the revenue from the UK playerbase then BLZ would get smacked with instant law suits in US by shareholders.
What's worse than losing? Losing more.

I don't see this being true, as the stock is already set at the price it's being bought for. My question was more that without the business being in the UK, can UK consumers still access the products, there are plenty of countries where Blizzard has no offices, but are still allowed to play the games.

[Bakis]

Not really shareholders are getting bought out by Microsoft they have no reason to sue Blizzard because getting acquired maximizes the value of the stock as it is has created an artificial cap. If the deal doesn't go through Blizzard stock would tank and they would get a lower bid if they were to find another buyer.

Ugh it was late (by Fidel Castro drink standards) and I did as hinted throw BLZ and MS the other way around.
Even though I think there is some legal commitment term to the deal that BLZ made which will still put some legal perils for BLZ but overall I mixed it up and was wrong.

Thnx

[Draco-Onis]

FTC files to block Microsoft-Activision as deadline approaches

Now this actually may stop the merger from happening but it will take a while to figure the outcome.

[Elegiac]

FTC files to block Microsoft-Activision as deadline approaches

Now this actually may stop the merger from happening but it will take a while to figure the outcome.

It's not likely to. The FTC's rationale for blocking the merger was already addressed in the EU case.

[Draco-Onis]

It's not likely to. The FTC's rationale for blocking the merger was already addressed in the EU case.

It's a different country they may feel that they haven't addressed it enough, we will see.

[Elegiac]

It's a different country they may feel that they haven't addressed it enough, we will see.

What the FTC feels isn't the determining factor, it's whether or not the courts find the FTC's concerns have substantial basis; and as said, the concerns listed (i.e. the potential for market monopolization) were already addressed in the EU's ruling through Microsoft's licensing commitments. It's not likely to prove an impediment.

[Elegiac]

So, as was the likely outcome; the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction has been denied, which clears the way for the merger in the US. And what's more, the CMA has agreed to a stay in litigation in order to negotiate a settlement regarding the merger for the UK market.

[Cthulhu 2020]

It seems I have to preface this every single time, because any time I mention my opinion, someone inevitably brings up Sony/Playstation doing scummy practices for gaming exclusivity. And let me just say, I hate that shit too. I had to buy a PS5 just to play God of War Ragnarok, FF16, and eventually FF7Rebirth. That's a lot of money for 3 games. I'm vastly preferenced to PC gaming in general. So me having established that I don't have skin in the stupid console wars that make people cheer for one side or the other...


I don't see this merger as being at all good for the players. WoW players seem pleased to be getting rid of Bobby, when in reality they're just trading one greedy corporate overlord for another. Massive consolidation of power for gaming manufacturers isn't good for the players. Never has been, never will be. Their #1 concern is always profit, not your enjoyment. Every small studio that gets bought out by a larger studio inevitably goes through the transformation from fun and engaging games to microtransaction hells.

There are some obvious exceptions, FromSoft, some of Square Enix, and the more recent god of war games are obviously really great games without predatory microtransaction practices. But by and large I don't see this merger as a good thing for the players. It's not like Blizzard has been in a good place the last 10ish years either, and players believe that things can only go up from the merger, but they can and should expect things to go downhill. I don't really see the board members at microsoft appreciating the Blizzard "magic" of old as much as they respect Blizzard profit margins.