Microsoft's Activision takeover blocked in UK

[Nathat23]

Summary

The UK's CMA has blocked Microsoft's $68.7bn takeover of Activision. The UK is the first market where a decision has been reached, with the EU and US set yet to rule. Microsoft wants to appeal the decision.

 

Quotes

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the regulator said it was concerned the deal would offer reduced innovation and less choice for gamers in the fast-growing cloud gaming business.

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The CMA said it was not concerned that the deal would distort competition in the console gaming market.

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Microsoft had submitted plans to address the CMA's concerns, but they were not effective and "would have replaced competition with ineffective regulation".

My thoughts

Not a good week for blizzard (is it ever?). This is a huge blow. I'd assume this makes the deal very unlikely to go ahead as the UK is a huge market.

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65378617

[AndreiArgeanu]

I've never really personally agreed with Activision Blizzard acquisition, as far as I know they're not doing badly so I don't really see how an acquisition by another company would be beneficial in any sense. There's more to lose by letting companies acquire more IP and become larger instead of making their own original IP and/or competing on the quality/cost of their hardware and services

[jaslion]

39 minutes ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

so I don't really see how an acquisition by another company would be beneficial in any sense.

The investors get a huge payout setting themselves up for another 100 lifetimes over their current enough money yearly for a couple lifetimes basically.

 

Its just money. This isnt a games company its a to invest in company that happens to make games.

 

 

[Fasterthannothing]

That's unfortunate hopefully Microsoft can aquire them so we can get even more games on game pass 

[leadeater]

36 minutes ago, Fasterthannothing said:

That's unfortunate hopefully Microsoft can aquire them so we can get even more games on game pass 

Just be careful about this sort of thing. It's all too common for game series to die off to never be seen again with these types of acquisitions. So it's all well and good you might get access to X game for a while but X+1 game may never happen and it's gone forever. Sometimes you get lucky and it'll get revived like a decade later i.e. Deus Ex.

 

A better option would simply be contractual agreement for games to be on game pass, not buying out game studios and publishers if all you want is access to games on game pass.

[jagdtigger]

Good, MS is already way too big... Letting companies to consolidate the market basically into 3 players is very dangerous and asinine to put it mildly.

[Doobeedoo]

Meh, doubt in the end it will not pass though. Really would be better off for merger to happen, it definitely would be better for Blizzard that's for sure.

[LAwLz]

What happens if the UK don't allow it but other countries do? 

 

I am worried about this deal because it's so massive. It is such a stupid amount of money that Microsoft must have some big plan to recoup their investment. I can't imagine that they actually think Activision Blizzard is worth almost 70 billion dollars. 

My guess is that their overall plan is to try and get essentially a monopoly on game streaming. That no matter what platform you want to game on, you will need a game pass and then stream the game from Microsoft. And in order to get to that goal they are willing to spend a ton of money because they'll make it back in the future. 

[Brooksie359]

7 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

What happens if the UK don't allow it but other countries do? 

 

I am worried about this deal because it's so massive. It is such a stupid amount of money that Microsoft must have some big plan to recoup their investment. I can't imagine that they actually think Activision Blizzard is worth almost 70 billion dollars. 

My guess is that their overall plan is to try and get essentially a monopoly on game streaming. That no matter what platform you want to game on, you will need a game pass and then stream the game from Microsoft. And in order to get to that goal they are willing to spend a ton of money because they'll make it back in the future. 

The UK are a massive market. I doubt they would pull out of that market for this merger. That being said it would be interesting if they did because I doubt the UK could function without being able to use Microsoft products. I mean I use windows everyday and so do many others. Can't imagine how people would get by if it was no longer had access to windows because Microsoft was barred from doing business in said country. 

[leadeater]

37 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

The UK are a massive market. I doubt they would pull out of that market for this merger. That being said it would be interesting if they did because I doubt the UK could function without being able to use Microsoft products. I mean I use windows everyday and so do many others. Can't imagine how people would get by if it was no longer had access to windows because Microsoft was barred from doing business in said country. 

It's quite possible they could merge and only that division of Microsoft would not operate in the UK. I'm also sure UK would let that happen, even changing the law to allow it if not possible currently.

 

I don't think that's a compromise Microsoft would be willing to make but I very much doubt this is an entire make or break situation for Microsoft being able to operate in the UK.

[Brooksie359]

35 minutes ago, leadeater said:

It's quite possible they could merge and only that division of Microsoft would not operate in the UK. I'm also sure UK would let that happen, even changing the law to allow it if not possible currently.

 

I don't think that's a compromise Microsoft would be willing to make but I very much doubt this is an entire make or break situation for Microsoft being able to operate in the UK.

I guess that makes sense. It's hard to see what is more important. The UK market or this merger. I have no idea how much they can gain from this merger that would outweigh the UK market but I guess you never know for sure. It would be interesting if they do end up opting to ignore the UK ruling and go through with the merger anyways. 

[pas008]

if disney can grab 21st fox i dont see why this should stop

 

 

[Shreyas1]

3 hours ago, leadeater said:

Just be careful about this sort of thing. It's all too common for game series to die off to never be seen again with these types of acquisitions. So it's all well and good you might get access to X game for a while but X+1 game may never happen and it's gone forever. Sometimes you get lucky and it'll get revived like a decade later i.e. Deus Ex.

 

A better option would simply be contractual agreement for games to be on game pass, not buying out game studios and publishers if all you want is access to games on game pass.

Usually yes, but we are talking about Activision here. Honestly it might be good to give COD a break, not that one of the most profitable game franchises of all time is going anywhere.

[Donut417]

11 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

as far as I know they're not doing badly so I don't really see how an acquisition by another company would be beneficial in any sense.

I think it has to deal with Blizzards reputation. I mean the SEC fined them a whole shit load of money due to Sexual Assault and other stuff. Not to mention the other law suits. Im pretty sure a suicide was also tied to this as well. The fact is, Microsoft buying them would put new management in charge. I also read somewhere they are having staffing issues, which is going to interferer with projects at some point. 

 

In my opinion, its better Microsoft snatch them up then EA. 

[dogwitch]

uk market large. but the eu market largers.

the brexit thing hurt the uk market hard.

[Kisai]

20 hours ago, Nathat23 said:

Summary

The UK's CMA has blocked Microsoft's $68.7bn takeover of Activision. The UK is the first market where a decision has been reached, with the EU and US set yet to rule. Microsoft wants to appeal the decision.

 

Quotes

My thoughts

Not a good week for blizzard (is it ever?). This is a huge blow. I'd assume this makes the deal very unlikely to go ahead as the UK is a huge market.

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65378617

But does it matter? Microsoft and Activision are not homed in the UK. The hurdle that has to be jumped is the US. Activision and Blizzard is in California and Microsoft is in Washington (the state)

 

That said, I'm a bit indifferent to it. I would like Microsoft to be able to acquire all the Activision IP that Activision has sat on and done nothing with, maybe they acquire "activision" and spin off the remaining parts (eg COD, WoW and Overwatch) to the remaining Blizzard software.

 

At any rate big corporate mergers are harmful overall and we shouldn't allow them. BUT at the same time we should not be permitting mergers to "Erase" IP either. If Microsoft acquires Activision they should be required to re-release every title Activision has ever made for Windows 11/Xbox/PS5. But that is certainly not going to happen either.

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

9 hours ago, dogwitch said:

uk market large. but the eu market largers.

the brexit thing hurt the uk market hard.

agreed as long its just uk nobody cares tbh...

 

but im wondering what the impacts of this takeover will actually be, can definitely see other countries blocking this as well.

[pas008]

4 hours ago, Kisai said:

But does it matter? Microsoft and Activision are not homed in the UK. The hurdle that has to be jumped is the US. Activision and Blizzard is in California and Microsoft is in Washington (the state)

 

That said, I'm a bit indifferent to it. I would like Microsoft to be able to acquire all the Activision IP that Activision has sat on and done nothing with, maybe they acquire "activision" and spin off the remaining parts (eg COD, WoW and Overwatch) to the remaining Blizzard software.

 

At any rate big corporate mergers are harmful overall and we shouldn't allow them. BUT at the same time we should not be permitting mergers to "Erase" IP either. If Microsoft acquires Activision they should be required to re-release every title Activision has ever made for Windows 11/Xbox/PS5. But that is certainly not going to happen either.

 

 

how are they harmful

 

especially in this case

 

has the disney fox thing turned out bad yet?

 

 

[ec06]

I can’t understand why so many people are upset by this decision. As far as I can see, monopolies aren’t a good thing and Microsoft already owns a very large chunk of the gaming industry. Eventually new games startups won’t have any chance of competing if Microsoft gets so much larger, and Gamepass holders will eventually be effectively held ransom by Microsoft. If Microsoft has a monopoly or near to a monopoly over the gaming market they would be able to charge extremely high rates because you wouldn’t have a choice to get games from elsewhere. But I don’t know, I might be wrong.

[pas008]

46 minutes ago, ec06 said:

I can’t understand why so many people are upset by this decision. As far as I can see, monopolies aren’t a good thing and Microsoft already owns a very large chunk of the gaming industry. Eventually new games startups won’t have any chance of competing if Microsoft gets so much larger, and Gamepass holders will eventually be effectively held ransom by Microsoft. If Microsoft has a monopoly or near to a monopoly over the gaming market they would be able to charge extremely high rates because you wouldn’t have a choice to get games from elsewhere. But I don’t know, I might be wrong.

do you realize, along with any media, this has more to do with what people prefer

you cant just slap call of duty on a game and it will sell like hotcakes

 

how does microsoft even come close to monopoly in gaming please explain this

sony sells more consoles if you want to argue console sales

mobile there are too many games to count

fortnite roblox gta etc etc that keep generating money today

 

it has nothing to do with competition and monopoly

this is should be looked at as media

if disney cant acquire all that media why cant someone else

at the end of the day if they make shit product after spending shitload of money they lose like they should

 

should we get involved with music, tv, movie, books etc because end of the day they still have to produce a product the people like

[Kisai]

9 hours ago, pas008 said:

how are they harmful

 

especially in this case

 

has the disney fox thing turned out bad yet?

 

 

Because big companies sit on IP, and either refuse to license it out, or 'lock it away' to never see it again.

 

Disney/Fox, and Microsoft are large enough companies that they can warp the market by withholding things.

 

 

Like less you forget...

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The company owns and operates additional subsidiary studios, as part of Activision Publishing, including Treyarch, Infinity Ward, High Moon Studios, and Toys for Bob.^[5] Among major intellectual properties produced by Activision Blizzard are Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk's, Spyro, Skylanders, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, and Candy Crush Saga. Under Blizzard Entertainment, it invested in esports initiatives around several of its games, most notably Overwatch and Call of Duty. Activision Blizzard's titles have broken a number of release records.^[10][11][12] As of March 2018, it was the largest game company in the Americas and Europe in terms of revenue and market capitalization.^[13]

Activision acquired Vivendi games has done absolutely nothing with the IP since 2007.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/07/29/activision-drops-several-vivendi-games

Quote

The downside of this announcement is that other Vivendi Games (namely Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Brütal Legend, WET, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and World in Conflict: Soviet Assault) are not being kept by Activision. "Activision will not publish other titles that were part of Vivendi Games' portfolio, and it is currently reviewing its options regarding these games" is all Activision would say on the matter when we talked to their Australian PR representative. However, a US spokesperson for Ghostbusters has gone on the record for the title, saying that "the game is not cancelled."

 

Now imagine Microsoft acquires Activision, keeps COD, WoW and Overwatch and cancels absolutely everything else.

 

So you might say "well that just makes room for new game developers" , no it doesn't. The reason a publisher is a PUBLISHER is because they publish games. Remove one of them, and that's one less company you can publish with.

 

If you want to publish a game on Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft's platforms, you need to have a publisher that has their devkits. You indie/garage-company will never have access to that.

 

[Donut417]

9 hours ago, ec06 said:

But I don’t know, I might be wrong.

The problem is Blizzard literally walked out and a bridge, poured gasoline on themselves and light themselves on fire. They have ruined their reputation. They have been branded as a shit place to work. They have been fined by the US government, which means they really really fucked up. Thats the reason they are looking to be acquired.  

 

I mean they are having staffing shortages. Im guessing current management doesn't know how to fix the problem. If they are acquired likely the company acquiring them will fix the issues and people will forget about what happened. 

 

That all being said, yes there are concerns about anyone acquiring Activison/Blizzard. Less participants in the market tend to screw over consumers. Look at the US's ISP's or look at the big media companies. My thoughts is that regardless Activsion/Blizzard are going to whore themselves out to who ever will take them. Meaning push come to shove they will find a way to sell themselves. 

 

 

[Remixt]

I wish this meant it will never happen, but in all likelyhood its just a delay. Makes me sad to see the state of capitalism.