EU launches in-depth probe of Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition

[bonami2]

Quote

As expected, following its initial inquiries into the $68.7 billion deal, the European watchdog said on Tuesday that it had opened a ‘phase II’ investigation due to competition concerns.

“The Commission is concerned that the proposed acquisition may reduce competition in the markets for the distribution of console and personal computers (‘PCs’) video games and for PC operating systems,” it said.

EU launches in-depth probe of Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM

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More detailed inquiry opened amid competition concerns…

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by bonami2

[schuck6566]

"and for PC operating systems"  Ok, Now I'm at a loss. Are they gonna say the same thing when Sony goes to buy a company that makes games for pc also? THAT would seem more likely to me....

[Diffident]

On 09/11/2022 at 01:02, schuck6566 said:

"and for PC operating systems"  Ok, Now I'm at a loss. Are they gonna say the same thing when Sony goes to buy a company that makes games for pc also? THAT would seem more likely to me....

Quote

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Diffident
w.t.f edit is broken

[Diffident]

 

Lets try again.

 

On 09/11/2022 at 01:02, schuck6566 said:

"and for PC operating systems"  Ok, Now I'm at a loss. Are they gonna say the same thing when Sony goes to buy a company that makes games for pc also? THAT would seem more likely to me....

 

I'm guessing they would if they spent $69 billion on the company they purchase.

 

Quote

In particular, the Commission is concerned that Microsoft may reduce the ability of rival providers of PC operating systems to compete with Microsoft’s operating system Windows, by combining Activision Blizzard’s games and Microsoft’s distribution of games via cloud game streaming to Windows. This would discourage users to buy non-Windows PCs.

 

Seems Like the EU is classifying consoles as PCs.  I doubt they're talking about Linux when mentioning "non-Windows PCs."

[UltraMega]

I'm sure MS would be more than happy to put game pass on PlayStation. Sony will still be a larger gaming company than Microsoft's gaming division. The EU has no case at. This whole thing is being so over-hyped by regulators and people who have probably never played a video game in their lives. 

[schuck6566]

18 hours ago, UltraMega said:

I'm sure MS would be more than happy to put game pass on PlayStation. Sony will still be a larger gaming company than Microsoft's gaming division. The EU has no case at. This whole thing is being so over-hyped by regulators and people who have probably never played a video game in their lives. 

Meanwhile.....

Forspoken will be a PlayStation 5 exclusive for over two years

WWW.GAMEBYTE.COM

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Forspoken will be a PlayStation 5 exclusive for over two years. Sony has confirmed the news in a recent PS5 trailer.

 

[Diffident]

On 13/11/2022 at 08:52, schuck6566 said:

Meanwhile.....

Forspoken will be a PlayStation 5 exclusive for over two years

WWW.GAMEBYTE.COM

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Forspoken will be a PlayStation 5 exclusive for over two years. Sony has confirmed the news in a recent PS5 trailer.

 

 

The Epic game store business plan is contagious apparently.

[schuck6566]

5 hours ago, Diffident said:

 

The Epic game store business plan is contagious apparently.

Really??? I'll just run 1 example by in argument against that, The Uncharted Franchise....

Epic Game store launched in 2018,

The First Uncharted game launched in 2007, Finally in 2022 Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, a remastered version of A Thief's End and The Lost Legacy, was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows PC.

Sony's been at it longer than Epic

Edited November 16, 2022 by schuck6566

[Diffident]

5 hours ago, schuck6566 said:

Really??? I'll just run 1 example by in argument against that, The Uncharted Franchise....

Epic Game store launched in 2018,

The First Uncharted game launched in 2007, Finally in 2022 Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, a remastered version of A Thief's End and The Lost Legacy, was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows PC.

Sony's been at it longer than Epic

 

But none of those games were on another platform first, then bought by Sony and then taken off of other platforms, which is the fear of Microsoft buying Activision, since Microsoft has said in the past that Microsoft content would eventually be exclusive to their platform.

[schuck6566]

On 16/11/2022 at 05:13, Diffident said:

 

But none of those games were on another platform first, then bought by Sony and then taken off of other platforms, which is the fear of Microsoft buying Activision, since Microsoft has said in the past that Microsoft content would eventually be exclusive to their platform.

lol, Seriously? Naughty Dog,The company that made Uncharted and The Last of Us series "Naughty Dog, LLC is an American first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001." Still wanna talk about Corp's buying gaming studio's and making their content exclusive to their own platforms?

Edit: Oh wait! Let's blame Microsoft for Blizzard games not being available already.... I wonder how this will get worked into the Sony scare tactics? Did MS put Blizzard up to it?

Blizzard and NetEase break up, ending support for key titles in China

WWW.GAMEDEVELOPER.COM

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Blizzard is splitting with Chinese licensing partner NetEase and will be suspending most Blizzard game services in mainland China as a result.

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by schuck6566

[Diffident]

On 17/11/2022 at 00:52, schuck6566 said:

lol, Seriously? Naughty Dog,The company that made Uncharted and The Last of Us series "Naughty Dog, LLC is an American first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001." Still wanna talk about Corp's buying gaming studio's and making their content exclusive to their own platforms?

Edit: Oh wait! Let's blame Microsoft for Blizzard games not being available already.... I wonder how this will get worked into the Sony scare tactics? Did MS put Blizzard up to it?

Blizzard and NetEase break up, ending support for key titles in China

WWW.GAMEDEVELOPER.COM

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Blizzard is splitting with Chinese licensing partner NetEase and will be suspending most Blizzard game services in mainland China as a result.

 

The games you listed were never on another platform.  I get it, being a Linux guy, I don't like it either, but trying to justify Microsoft's purchase of Activision by using a "whataboutism" isn't the way to go.  If you don't like Sony doing it, then you shouldn't like Microsoft doing it either.