FTC loses Again in Attempt to block Xbox's Acquisition of ABK

Thread: FTC loses Again in Attempt to block Xbox's Acquisition of ABK
Nobel 6

Nobel 6

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lost what may be its final attempt to block Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard. It's the second loss for the FTC after a US federal judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction earlier this week to block Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard until the conclusion of a separate FTC administrative case.
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the Verge

I wonder if Lina will give it another shot, they say the third times a charm :LOL:
 
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Even if they did succeed in their new attempt to stop the acquisition, I don't think those people who were laid off with get their jobs back. Lawyers love to waste time for no practical reason it seems.
 
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Nikana said:
Weird? No.
Pointless? Yes.

I am not for the merger at all but their trial performance first time around was so bad I can't see them coming up with a good case.
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I mean how is it not weird. The argument is that they want to protect consumer choice.......okay?

The gaming market no longer has high barriers to entry, a low level developer or a person with a small understanding game creation can still create games e.g asset flips, 3rd party creation etc.

The gaming market has more mediums through which developers can sell their games, Steam, GOG, Epic, Game Passes, Apple & Google Store etc.

They have various means of funding and don't need a publisher, GoFundMe, Patreon etc.

They can market their games through a wider audience cheaply (because that cost has come down), YouTube or practically any-form of social media.


You can make some of the arguments against some of the M&A activity last year on protections of the consumer but they didn't go this hard. It was just the usual notice and then approval.

I have theory and maybe I'm wrong but because this is a high profile acquisition, to quell those who are interested and those who mostly disapprove of this deal (mostly those who socialist tendencies), and to justify the FTC's bloated budget, they choose this case. Because the arguments placed forward in the first round by the FTC are so incredibly weak that it makes me wonder why continue this struggle at all.

It looks to me more like for appearances than them being concerned by consumer protection.
 
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It's a shame that the merger went through. Market consolidation on the scale we've been seeing the past ten years is just not a good thing. Microsoft couldn't 'compete' with their opponents in the gaming space directly so now they're just buying their way in as deep as they can get. ID Software and Bethesda were cool while they lasted, but there's no sympathy on my part for the fate Activision/Blizzard has in store for them (though I do miss the Blizzard of yesteryear).
 
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Apocrypha said:
It's a shame that the merger went through. Market consolidation on the scale we've been seeing the past ten years is just not a good thing. Microsoft couldn't 'compete' with their opponents in the gaming space directly so now they're just buying their way in as deep as they can get. ID Software and Bethesda were cool while they lasted, but there's no sympathy on my part for the fate Activision/Blizzard has in store for them (though I do miss the Blizzard of yesteryear).
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It's cheaper to buy the companies than buy timed exclusives with their marketshare.
 
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Apocrypha said:
It's a shame that the merger went through. Market consolidation on the scale we've been seeing the past ten years is just not a good thing. Microsoft couldn't 'compete' with their opponents in the gaming space directly so now they're just buying their way in as deep as they can get. ID Software and Bethesda were cool while they lasted, but there's no sympathy on my part for the fate Activision/Blizzard has in store for them (though I do miss the Blizzard of yesteryear).
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Once sales numbers became the measure of quality/success we were doomed to go down this ugly consolidation path with or without MS.
 
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Bionic Wolf said:
It's cheaper to buy the companies than buy timed exclusives with their marketshare.
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Is it though? Say it costs 80 million to make a high budget AAA permanent exclusive. Sony bought Bungie for 3.6 billion, that's 85 AAA exclusives they could have being exclusive PS5 games. Surely that would have more of an effect than owning one studio with a run rate of one game every 5 years (albeit sold on all consoles).
 
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Hostile_18 said:
Is it though? Say it costs 80 million to make a high budget AAA permanent exclusive. Sony bought Bungie for 3.6 billion, that's 85 AAA exclusives they could have being exclusive PS5 games. Surely that would have more of an effect than owning one studio with a run rate of one game every 5 years (albeit sold on all consoles).
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I think his point is about the marketshare. Xbox has to pay way more for those exclusivity deals because Xbox sells way worse than PS. So if you were going to let MS give you a check to cover the losses you'd incur from keeping games off of PS, it would cost more than what you'd charge Sony to cover the losses you'd incur from keeping games off of Xbox.
 
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i didn't even know they're stil trying that. sony and ftc must be be worst losers i've ever known in a lifetime.

congrats sony,
worst winner
worst loser

microsoft tries everything to take that spot wth half baked games and always online everything but is not even close to your dedication.
 
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Grinchy said:
I think his point is about the marketshare. Xbox has to pay way more for those exclusivity deals because Xbox sells way worse than PS. So if you were going to let MS give you a check to cover the losses you'd incur from keeping games off of PS, it would cost more than what you'd charge Sony to cover the losses you'd incur from keeping games off of Xbox.
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True but then the more sensible options would be buying or rather funding the games outright. That's how I would of spent that money or even creating 10 whole new studios etc.
 
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Hostile_18 said:
True but then the more sensible options would be buying or rather funding the games outright. That's how I would of spent that money or even creating 10 whole new studios etc.
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Yeah I think there's a long list of options that are better than anything Microsoft settles on doing. They ruin everything they touch.
 
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Grinchy said:
Yeah I think there's a long list of options that are better than anything Microsoft settles on doing. They ruin everything they touch.
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To be fair Sony spending that kind of money on Bungie is equally bad. In fact in some ways worse because they don't have that kind of money and it was only for one studio that they intend to keep multiplatform.

They cost for these purchases always gets passed on to the consumer eventually. Just wait for the Gamepass with adverts tier lol.
 
Hostile_18 said:
True but then the more sensible options would be buying or rather funding the games outright. That's how I would of spent that money or even creating 10 whole new studios etc.
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Creating new studios is much more difficult than buying them. It was the smart move.
 
Bionic Wolf said:
Creating new studios is much more difficult than buying them. It was the smart move.
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3.6 billion for a single studio a smart move? Sorry, I just can't get my head around that.

Create 20 studios, even if only a handful are successful it will be a better deal. If anyone can make it work Sony with their amazing first party (like Nintendo) can make it work with decades plus of prior learning and expertise.
 
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