FTC Seeks to Block Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision, Bobby Kotick's Response

[RobertMugabe]

A quick google search will tell you this is not a single incident and you can find articles about it nearly bi yearly for the past decade. But nice deflection attempt thinking any large corp doesn't have these same issues only the one you wanted to crusade against did.

Yes and? I bet you yourself are an angel and have never said or done something bad to anyone.

And besides that, I did not say this is only about one guy, but the article itself is MOSTLY about one guy and what all this supposed drama was about.

While this is of course bad, this is absolutely bound to happen where you will have assholes among your ranks and that HR won't always take the best action against somebody and make mistakes too. This is such a non-issue COMPARED to what has happened at Blizzard for the last couple of years and it's especially stupid to compare what's going on at MS with, once again, fucking Epstein.

MS isn't buying A/B to clean up their culture... they took advantage of the situation at A/B to acquire them and make their own corp stronger. Call it what it is and stop acting like this is good when it's the same shit with consolidation which is inherently bad for industries.

Yeah no shit. And nobody has been saying this, like wtf are you on about even? They are obviously buying ABK to make money, not to teach them how to be better co-workers lmao. Nobody except you is saying that.

[Unholyground]

I hope the merger doesn't happen, not only that, I hope they rip activision out of blizzard. That way the only way Blizz can make money n stand on their feet is if they start to make good games again...THE HORROR!

You would be quite foolish to think it's not going to go through.

The main reason this isn't anti competitive is because the games are gonna be on every system maybe over time some won't be but that isn't the case right now so Sony doesn't have a leg to stand on with that.

There aren't really any other companies against this I personally want it to go through because it benefits me as a gamer and a game developer.

[Nymrohd]

MS went on record that they will release CoD on Switch as well. And they have offered Sony a decade-long agreement for equal COD access. These aren't complex IT issues that go over the head of politicians, this is a fairly basic case about market competition

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You would be quite foolish to think it's not going to go through.

The main reason this isn't anti competitive is because the games are gonna be on every system maybe over time some won't be but that isn't the case right now so Sony doesn't have a leg to stand on with that.

There aren't really any other companies against this I personally want it to go through because it benefits me as a gamer and a game developer.

I think if it does NOT go through, MS will be left with tons of cash to make several exclusive deals and offer Sony a taste of their own medicine.

[Swnem]

Except it does align with the facts Bobby, and we have seen Microsoft do this before.

[Relapses]

"Our players want choice," says the guy who profits the most from a deal which effectively gives players fewer choices. Can this guy take a page out of Bo Burnham's book and just shut the fuck up?

[plz delete account]

So you're agreeing both want the merger to happen yet not? what?

Where the hell are you getting that from?

Kotick is getting fired, and he's getting a nice golden parachute. How do those conflict at all?

[Ealyssa]

Can this guy take a page out of Bo Burnham's book and just shut the fuck up?

I hate the Bobby like any other person but come on now. He is THE guy who has a legit reason to not STFU in this case. He is the CEO of the company attacked by the FTC, he has to say something.

It's also quite clear that the FTC case by itself is paper thin and likely to loose. In the grand scheme of the gaming industry, microsoft buying ABK is still a small drop in the ocean of money made yearly. And certainly no real ground for preventing 2 private entity to merge, especially not in the ultra liberal US of A.
The FTC is running on a political agenda on this one, and it won't work.

[rayvio]

so Microsoft might not be allowed to acquire Blizzard because they might then make some xbox exclusives...?
I'm all for stopping platform exclusives but trying to block only one company when every console has always had exclusives is just crazy
are they going to force Sony to have all their exclusives ported to PC, Nintendo and XBox? will they stop the next GTA game from being on consoles for a year before coming to PC?

[Proskill]

Where the hell are you getting that from?

Kotick is getting fired, and he's getting a nice golden parachute. How do those conflict at all?

u said they want to keep him. if they do then he doesnt get those 69 (nice) billion

[rhorle]

by manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services

Many would say they do this already and it has nothing to do with harming rivals.

[Orange Joe]

Where the hell are you getting that from?

Kotick is getting fired, and he's getting a nice golden parachute. How do those conflict at all?

Let me get this right. You seem to think

someone at FTC wants BK in power.
BK himself doesn't want to be in power
Spencer will fire BK

Does that really make sense or seem in any way logical in your head?

[Tech614]

so Microsoft might not be allowed to acquire Blizzard because they might then make some xbox exclusives...?
I'm all for stopping platform exclusives but trying to block only one company when every console has always had exclusives is just crazy
are they going to force Sony to have all their exclusives ported to PC, Nintendo and XBox? will they stop the next GTA game from being on consoles for a year before coming to PC?

There is no reality where the purchase gets blocked by the FTC. This is them stalling to get the deal they want and because they had a bone to pick with MS for awhile.

If the deal somehow gets blocked it's going to be because of European Regulators which are way more strict than the opposition in the US, but even they likely go away if MS signs the deal they want from them.

[vincink]

Because he's going to get paid bank. $69B.

This. Kotick lies straight through his teeth just get his kickback. A merger is always anti-competitive. I'm speaking both as an observer of merges and an employee who has gone through mergers.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Let me get this right. You seem to think

someone at FTC wants BK in power.
BK himself doesn't want to be in power
Spencer will fire BK

Does that really make sense or seem in any way logical in your head?

Just want to point out that third one has already been confirmed to happen if the merger goes through.

You could argue the second one is true given he's going to get money to leave.

The first one, though, is 100% conspiracy.

[Orange Joe]

Just want to point out that third one has already been confirmed to happen if the merger goes through.

You could argue the second one is true given he's going to get money to leave.

The first one, though, is 100% conspiracy.

Thats kinda of what I'm getting at. Why would some random person at the FTC want to keep BK in power when neither he(possibly) nor spencer want that.

[Ielenia]

I hope the merger doesn't happen, not only that, I hope they rip activision out of blizzard. That way the only way Blizz can make money n stand on their feet is if they start to make good games again...THE HORROR!

"They". Who is is "they"? Because it surely can't be the FTC, since the FTC has absolutely zero reasons whatsoever to mess with Activision-Blizzard regarding their merge that happened almost one and a half decade ago.

[Mendzia]

Leaked (by my dad working in Blizzard) Bobby's copypaste template letter for any inside company issue:

'Dear Team,

Our lead want to give short update about [put here any recent and very concerning inside company problem].

We will do our best to [put here any PR response that everything will be okay]].

Thank you for all of your hardwork and [put here some PR words about top tier rank in game industry, inclusion, e-sports and charity].

Thank you,
Your Bobby'

[Alayea]

This is just the FTC pulling a political stunt in the hopes of a shakedown. I'm not a fan of Activision (and Bobby Kotick especially), but the federal agency isn't going to be able stop the deal from being closed next year.

[TheRevenantHero]

This is just the FTC pulling a political stunt in the hopes of a shakedown. I'm not a fan of Activision (and Bobby Kotick especially), but the federal agency isn't going to be able stop the deal from being closed next year.

Yes they absolutely would be able to stop the deal. Wtf makes you think they can't?

[SniperCT]

Good. It might still go through but there NEEDS to be a lot more efforts to block all the big game companies consolidating/buying each other up and there are a dozen other buyouts and mergers that should have been stopped (in numerous industries, but especially media), but better late than never. These kind of deals have always been bad for consumers.

And for the record I'd feel the same way if this was a sony/activision deal and I felt the same way when Bethesda was bought, and when EA bought bioware etc etc.