Microsoft’s $69bn deal to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard cleared by UK
Microsoft’s $69bn deal to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard cleared by UK
Competition regulator had initially moved to block acquisition but concerns addressed
I'm torn between wanting Activision to get new management and not wanting Microsoft to aquire two major companies and dominate the market
28I am in a similar boat, but i don't think this is THAT big of a deal.
Blizzard is mostly a shell of its former self. FF14 has taken over as the default theme park MMO and Riot own the majority of the sweaty RTS super genre. Also whatever Overwatch counted as.
As for Activision proper? Mostly they've let their IPs languish in favor of CoD. And CoD is still huge, but it is not the industry controlling monster it used to be AND MS are "committed" to keeping that multi-platform (because that is where the money is).
I still think Bethesda/Zenimax was the big "holy shit" acquisition. Obviously Skyrim is one of the biggest games of all time and prints money. But it was mostly all the sub-studios (Machine Games, for example) that very much dominate the "third party" market.
I think King is probably the really big part of this acquisition but... I've never understood the mobile market so I am not even sure if that is still as dominant as I think it is?
13I mean when Microsoft purchased Bethesda it made things better than they were at the time and we got access to a lot more older titles. Just look at what Redfall was and then compare it to Starfield. Microsoft didn’t have any hands in Redfall but did in Starfield.
0I don't think this is really a good comparison since Starfield was in development for years before Microsoft came in. Plus, Redfall was forced by management to shoehorn in a live service model with mtx during its development, butchering what it had been before.
And, this is just my personal opinion, but I think Starfield is a pretty mediocre game. Besides the ship design, it's largely the same design that Bethesda has had since Oblivion.
2
Fuck Activision
16Fuck both Activision and Microsoft*
3
Anyone have a map of who remains after the mega mergers of the last 15y? At this point I'm just waiting for our EA/Bioware/Activision/Blizzard/Microsoft/Tencent future.
14Isn't $69B also the amount the IRS just said Microsoft owes them? 🤔
5Nah, it's only 29B. But ifthey have such money why won't they pay taxes? 🤔
8
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The UK’s competition watchdog has cleared Microsoft’s $69bn (£54bn) deal to buy Activision Blizzard, the maker of games including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, in a move that paves the way for both companies to complete the transaction.
However, last month the watchdog said a revised deal that included selling cloud gaming rights outside Europe to Activision Blizzard’s French rival Ubisoft had addressed its concerns, indicating the tie-up would be approved.
In a statement on Friday Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said: “With the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, we’ve made sure Microsoft can’t have a stranglehold over this important and rapidly developing market.
As cloud gaming grows, this intervention will ensure people get more competitive prices, better services and more choice.”
The UK regulator had appeared increasingly isolated in its position blocking the takeover after its EU counterparts passed the deal – after Microsoft offered alternative concessions on cloud gaming rights – and the US competition regulator failed to secure a court injunction to stop it.
The Federal Trade Commission is maintaining its opposition to the deal but it cannot prevent Microsoft and Activision from completing it.
The original article contains 244 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 20%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
4There is only pointless hope that Microsoft will make Activision Blizzard great again cause their gaming track is just a total joke so far. And AB, as a gaming company, are totally fcked. Every game they did in the last 5 years is a middle finger to their fans and thumbs up to their share holders. There is no way AB gets a single dime of my money..
4What did the anti-monopoly office (whatever they are called) smoke to greenlight this?
2If they bring back Heroes of the Storm I will dick ride Microsoft for the rest of my life
2Mason: what do the numbers mean?
Reznov: TPM, 4GB, Secureboot. All is required
-14GB? More like 400GB...
34GB min ram for ms windows 11 lol
1
Nice.
-5