Microsoft Posts Full Response to CMA Phase 1 "Unwarranted Theories" Regarding Activision Acquisition

Microsoft's full response to the CMA has surfaced and it's four pages long! Microsoft calls it "unwarranted theories" and lists Sony's recent acquisitions as counter-claims.

[Orchard]

Seems like there’s some good and bad arguments in there.

Sony does indeed abuse their position as market leader when they increase prices with no fear of retribution from gamers.

On the other hand, trying to compare Bungie and Haven to Activision is comical - Haven haven’t actually made anything, and Bungie is a nothing compared to Activision.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

They're mostly poor arguments. Their only decent argument was about raising hardware prices but even that is heavily flawed because Sony arguably did that for stakeholders because their stock price plummeted and has continued to decline since the news of the Activision Blizzard acquisition. lol

1. "Sony PlayStation has been the largest console platform for over 20 years."
This statement is deceitful. Sony haven't been on top for 20 years.
- In terms of profit, the PS3 was highly unprofitable for years and cost Sony billions with speculations of bankruptcy. Both the 360 and the Wii were more profitable.
- In terms of units sold, the Wii outsold the PS3 and the 360 and PS3 sold roughly the same with the PS3 behind until almost the end. The combined monthly sales of PS5 and PS4 are also lower than the Switch so in terms of hardware sales, Nintendo is again on top.

MS's trick is arbitrarily combining each gen with the last one even though that's not reflective of active users, software sales, or overall profitability as users quickly move onto the next gen. The best metric is profitability, which is true now, but not for the last 20 years.

2. "The suggestion that the incumbent market leader, with clear and enduring market power, could be foreclosed by the third largest provider as a result of losing access to one title is not credible. There are more than 4,000 games available on PlayStation alone."

Playing dumb to an extreme. By this logic, they should be entitled to buy up GTA and FIFA as well because, well, there's a whopping 4000 games on the PS Store and 2 or 3 games shouldn't make a difference. We all know that these few top franchises are worth more than thousands of others combined.

3. Their comparison of acquisitions is laughable, as you said, especially when you look at the extended ~$77b buying spree they've been on.

4. MS are also being coy when saying that if you removed all the monthly active COD users "the PlayStation gamer base would remain significantly larger than Xbox is today" because they're including PS4 numbers with the PS5 ones to try fudge the numbers.

Also, it's transparent at this stage that they are going to remove COD from PlayStation in spite of all their lies that "It wouldn't make sense" which the CMA have seen through.

[DigitalDaniel]

Why wouldn't they include PS4 and PS5 numbers ? CoD is still a CROSSGEN title.
The high majority of CoD sales will be on PS4. Should they not include that fact ?
Of course they should if you wanna stick with facts.
No, Xbox is not making CoD exclusive. They don't need to. That's not their strategy here.
Having it day and date on Game Pass is. Just Warzone alone generate 5.2 million dollars in revenue per day. They're not gonna just gonna ignore that kind of money after spending 70 billion dollars.
That's not taking mainline CoD games into account. The whole ABK purchase is about expanding the subscription/mobile/cloud market.

CMA's fear mongering won't hold up in phase 2. The merger will go through and Sony will be just fine. Xbox might close the gap a bit, but there's just no way Playstation goes away or loses that top spot. We need proper competition in more areas than just exclusive $70 titles (or $80+ as it costs many places in Europe, Australia etc) Lowering the barriers for customers to enjoy games is more pro-consumer now than ever considering the terrible economic we have globally. The CMA is supposed to look out for the customers, not the competitors.

[The3faces]

A multi billion dollar corporation raises hardware prices for the sake of shareholders and you're okay with that? Just curious

[SullysCigar]

Loving the deflection here about Sony put price up. So did Facebook, but crickets...so did third party games, even on xbox. More crickets. Crickets everywhere - Klaus Schwab's mouth must be watering!

As for the argument that they're not holding COD from gamers, fine, let them document that as a legal requirement to proceed and we can finally put all this nonsense behind us. It's a necessary step, given Microsoft's propensity for - let's call it - 'changing it's mind'.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

No rebuttal from Orchard for ANY of the responses. Interesting.

[OptimusDK]

Size is not an issue here.

Mac is accusing Microsoft of potential practices like Sony has been doing for years. Even with COD. It is laughable

[crazyCoconuts]

Oh yeah. Sony has been making $40BN acquisitions for years buying up the companies that put out the most popular games. Like Minecraft, Skyrim, Doom... Oh wait...

[AmUnRa]

Just as MS have, they did the same practices for years especialy during the 360 years

[shinoff2183]

Must be a younging. You do know ms did the same thing with cod on xbox 360 right. Stop with the bs do your research

[anubusgold]

Only because they cant afford to buy them out because they sell bad over priced tvs .

[gold_drake]

sure but its not just sony.

there are alot of other phblishers who raised the prices. so your argument doesnt have anything to stand on.

[neutralgamer1992]

CMA had stated that Microsoft does not care about the blowback if they were to make some of the biggest IP's from Activision exclusive and that is 100% correct

This statement from Microsoft proves the point that they're going to make these games exclusives. All they have to do is give in legal writing that they will not make these games exclusive for the next two decades. And this deal will go through in a day but the reason they don't want to do that is because their end goal is to have these games exclusive you don't spend 70 billion dollars to support your competition

Unless Microsoft gives that in writing this deal should not go through simply because this is not healthy for gaming industry or good for any gamers besides some fanboys

This is such old kids argument that they do it too this is such hypocrisy because they think spending 3 billion on bungee is the same in spending family billion on Activision and 7 and 1/2 billion on Bethesda

Or has Microsoft forgot how many other studios they have acquired before Bethesda and Activision

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

Perfectly said.

If you're adamant that you're not removing COD, then what's the harm in getting that in writing?

Their lies have become transparent.

[RauLeCreuset]

I'm not normally one to advocate for price increases. Why would I? The increases to PS5 hardware and software are not the rare exception. But I can maintain that position while rejecting this nonsense no fear of retribution narrative MS is trying to push.

Hardware increased in some areas because of global events. I could go on a tangent about corporations, profits, and my objection to the corporate mentality that losses should be absorbed by the customer rather than cut into profits, but there is a distinction between a corporation passing costs on to the consumer and a corporation abusing their position in the market to up the price for no other reason than because they can.

Meta announced a price increase for their VR headsets prior to PS and for the same reason. That's for a market you have repeatedly argued is niche. Their stock has dropped, and they've spent a lot of money trying to push the Metaverse. Quest may have been the hot holiday item, but Meta is a long way from being able to take customers for granted and raise prices just because they can.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/1...

I won't beat a dead horse on software increases. As pertains to this topic, Sony isn't the only publisher, nor the first, to increase software prices, so it seems flimsy to try to put that on Sony's position in the marketplace.

"On the other hand, trying to compare Bungie and Haven to Activision is comical - Haven haven’t actually made anything, and Bungie is a nothing compared to Activision."

It also ignores the other studios and publishers MS acquired. It is rich that they were quick to point out acquisitions made after MS announced they were buying up yet another big 3rd party publisher with a catalog of games popular on competing consoles, not to mention the acquisitions that preceded them. "But Sony bought a studio that hasn't made anything, in response, and they have minority investments!" I guess the best thing they can bring up is Bungie, comical as it may be.

[RauLeCreuset]

I'll add that the allegation of Sony getting complacent because of its position in the marketplace is ironic coming from a company making a good argument for why they would have gone the way of Sega if not for being propped up by a parent company that has dominated other markets.

[Rude-ro]

The market is raising the prices not Sony.
Comparing the price raises in an argument about Microsoft warrants Microsoft actually making AAA games of which they do not and have not for over a decade.

[nirwanda]

Sony was the first company to have $70 next gen games, it launched with a first party games at that price point thus encouraging other companies to increase there price point.
If Sony kept at the same price point there is no way others would have increased, Nintendo haven't, Microsoft haven't just Sony.

[Extermin8or3_]

Cma already replied to this: https://www.gamesindustry.b...

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Oh boy imo this is getting spicy.

[Crows90]

only if youre into teenage drama. Thats what this document reads like.

[anast]

This is WWE levels of spice.

[TGGJustin]

Microsoft can shut right the heck up about Sony's acquisitions. Yeah Housemarque, Haven, and Bungie are really comparable to Activision. GIve me a break with this nonsense. You can put every gaming acquisition in the industry together from the past few years and they still don't compare to Activision.

[OptimusDK]

The point is that Sony is the market leader and they did and gave done these practices for many years. Even with the acquisition NS would be a smaller gaming company than Sony. And behind Tencent.

[Crows90]

You dont get it. 3rd party titles are the reason these companies stay afloat...it is not the 1st party but 3rd party. Microsoft has walked and and downright purchased many of the 3rd party out there...especially significant ones.

Sony has never done that. Feel free to name me 1 IP that theyve purchased away from competitiion.

[anubusgold]

Are they going to promise to put those games on xbox no they wont sony can shut up.

[Christopher]

***Sony PlayStation has been the largest console platform for over 20 years, with an installed base of over 150 million consoles making it larger than Nintendo and more than double the size of Xbox.***

Microsoft has plainly spoken about moving away from consoles. Did they forget to include the fact that Xbox is available on every PC running Windows 10 or 11? After praising how they understand the future is in the cloud, they now want to argue the importance of console hardware?

***Sony engages in conduct today which is reflective of its market power in console gaming, including increasing prices of its consoles without fear of losing market share.***

Sony doesn't have big daddy Microsoft deep pockets to keep things priced lower to undercut the competition and this is bad. Also, without fear? But the Internet has told me otherwise, but now people are saying without fear? Does no one complain about Sony pricing all of a sudden?

***The suggestion that the incumbent market leader, with clear and enduring market power, could be foreclosed by the third largest provider as a result of losing access to one title is not credible. There are more than 4,000 games available on PlayStation alone.***

This purchase automatically puts Microsoft billions ahead of its competition and with control over the biggest IP of each year for the last 19 years among others. Listing 4,000 games don't matter when it loses its most profitable game on its platform. It's $30B profit alone from 2003 to 2020. It made $3B profit alone in 2020. That's more than 10% of Playstation revenue from that same year.

***The evidence shows that the number of PlayStation’s monthly active users (“MAUs”) playing Call of Duty is not sufficiently material. Even without all of those gamers (a highly improbable outcome from a hypothetical foreclosure strategy), the PlayStation gamer base would remain significantly larger than Xbox is today.***

Why would it remain significantly larger? Because Microsoft says it would? The mass majority of both consoles is comprised of mainstream gamers who follow the most popular games. If the most popular game moves to only one console, how the heck are those MAUs not changing drastically? How? Explain it to us in dummy language, Microsoft. Because last I checked, you lost a lot of MAUs when PlayStation paid for marketing deals with Activision and DLC didn't have a monthly lead on 360 anymore.

***Since the Transaction was announced, Sony has acquired several game studios—including Bungie, developer of the popular online game Destiny 2, Haven Studios, Lasengle and Savage Games—and a minority interest in From Software, the developer of the biggest game of 2022, Elden Ring (among other hit games). This complements Sony’s existing minority shareholding in Epic Games, publisher of Fortnite, strong first-party game catalogue and extensive portfolio of exclusive arrangements with third-party publishers. There were over 280 exclusive firstand third-party titles on PlayStation in 2021, nearly five times as many as on Xbox***

Not only is this nothing compared to ActiBlizz, the largest amount anyone has ever paid for a video game publisher, but none of those interests change where players will find the games or limit the catalog of games from other consoles at all.

And that last bit? *chef's kiss* What great use of numbers to mislead. How many of those were timed? How many are VR games? How many are region-specific (specifically Japan)? How many are ports of PS2 games or the like? And, finally, if you total up the profit of every single one of those "exclusives" would they equal up to 1 CoD annual release in profits and MAUs?

[excaliburps]

Yeah, I agree there. Calling Sony's own acquisitions is kind of odd. Like, how on earth are those even remotely close to owning Activision, which owns probably the biggest gaming IPs in their respective genres.

Shooters/Online FPS = Call of Duty
Action-RPG = Diablo
Hero Shooter = Overwatch
MMORPG = WoW

And it goes on. If MS didn't buy Bethesda then maybe (just maybe) this wouldn't be as bug of as an issue as it is now.

[blackblades]

Ms is a piece of crap, they made so many stupid and desparate moves. Tried to get Nintendo back in the day, turned down Marvel to make a game for them but instead choose to focused on there own games which failed. Screwed up with rare and bungie. Now wanna buy everything up and tried to lie about there intentions which would probably fail as well. Ms just been making bad moves.

[Zhipp]

To be fair on that last point, a significant number of the big games announced at the start of this gen were timed exclusive or fully exclusive to PlayStation. Before MS went on their buying spree, it was really starting to look like the majority of all third party titles would launch first on PlayStation, and most of the ones that didn't would have some kind of exclusive content arrangement.

[Christopher]

***a significant number of the big games announced at the start of this gen were timed exclusive or fully exclusive to PlayStation***

The exclusives on PS5 and XSX are very limited and small in number. Microsoft literally chose 2021 as a comparison because PS4 (not PS5) had a lot of Indies and retro ports put onto it. This has absolutely nothing to do with PS5 vs XSX. Microsoft is only talking about PS4 when it comes to this because both XSX and PS5 have about the same number of exclusives overall.

[excaliburps]

Timed exclusives and entire game franchises going console-exclusive are two hugely different things though. Timed exclusives sucks as well, but I do get where Sony's fears are coming from. That said, they aren't innocents in all of this.

[dumahim]

Is COD really bigger than FIFA?

[Christopher]

Yes. It is the third highest-grossing IP behind Pokemon (1) and Mario (2). FIFA is #12.

https://res.cloudinary.com/...

Edit: And that's with FIFA being on the market a decade longer than Call of Duty.

[anast]

This is a solid argument.

[Extermin8or3_]

They already replied and called out all this stuff https://www.gamesindustry.b...

[Christopher]

That's a great response. Someone over there obviously is very well read on the gaming industry.

[LoveSpuds]

I think the UK and hopefully the EU are right to be sceptical. Look at MS historical anti competitive behaviour and put the Activision deal into context along side their other moves such as buying Bethesda. It is clear there is a material risk of a multi billion dollar industry being monopolised here and that's bad news for consumers and the industry itself.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Sorry MS you can try that BS all you want but we are not buying it and the fact that MS have to get this defensive says alot. There is just no way any sane person would take MS defense and reasoning for buying Activision and any promises at face value.

Instead of buying up whole big name publishers why not spend that money to make new Studios and build some talent.

[Chocoburger]

That last line describes my feelings perfectly.
BUILD UP the industry, don't BUY OUT the industry. Two completely different things, one is good, one is bad.

[BLow]

What a weak response. How does buying individual companies compare to buying publishers with multiple game studios and IPs. The Activision deal alone has how many companies? Anyone comparing the 2 needs to get their head examined. This deal doesn't nothing for MS. They already had these games. So what will change? Fanboy talking points? How much money will they lose if they make COD exclusive when PS has the majority actually buying the game? $60 or $70 vs $15 or even a dollar for Gamepass lol.

[moriarty1889]

Because MS with all their money are still to lazy and not creative enough to build solid new IP. Easier for them to buy up publishers with established IP and then throw them on gamepass to keep,subs coming in. Lazy and easy way out for them and shows they simply cant and have no desire to even try to make new games. Pathetic. Hope this deal falls flat on their face and forces them to use the studios they have already bought and actually build some new games that are worthwhile.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Four pages of blowing smoke.

A 2 TRILLION dollar company trying to mislead. Spending almost 80 billion not on themselves to fix games like Halo or improve developers like Rare. But on publishers that they know were doing better with the competition. And knowing the same multiplatform games from both publishers were coming to their platform anyway.

Not much else to say on this topic other than to see how much more Microsoft will mislead to justify their purchases. Since they are not done acquiring, they'll try and purchase more big publishers and come up with even more ridiculous reasons about saving these companies from some outside threat.

[StarkR3ality]

Think it's mad how everyone on this site thinks cod is either past it's best or complete shit, yet it's the main talking point in this deal. Just shows that people's opinions on here don't really matter in the wider market.

They need to keep Call Of Duty multiplatform, for them and the gamers. Treating it more like Minecraft should happen, and I think at the time everyone applauded how they handled that IP at the time.

I think even if they kept it multiplatform and just stuck it on game pass, that would be enough to tempt a lot of people as Xbox and PC players would go that route. On that keep the bigger existing titles such as Diablo etc multiplatform, but any new IP, or WoW on console would be Xbox exclusive. I think that would be fair.

I know people hate Xbox on this site, it's clear, but you would rather have them own Activision than Tencent, Amazon, Google etc. Sometimes it's better the Devil you know.

[chronoforce]

Google clearly don't want the smoke given what has happened to Stadia but Tencent and Amazon are in for a penny in for a pound. Tencent purchased a stake in Epic and purchased Riot games over 10 years ago. Amazon games have also been in the biz for over 10 years and recently found some success with New World and Lost Ark.

What exactly would be the issue with either of them owning Activision?

[StarkR3ality]

Tencent are literally a gambling company to me, notorious for microtransactions and not only that they are a Chinese company. Now nothing against China in general, but they HEAVILY censor games and media, you think that won't happen if Tencent get theirs claws into gaming? It will change the entire industry for the worse, 0 positives from Tencent owning Activision.

Amazon have released flop after flop and while yes those games are okay, one of them literally causing over £1000 GPU's to melt but alright let's forget about that. They have 0 gaming heritage while Microsoft has released amazing games in the past (yes they have I know people like to ignore this but early to mid 360 was one of the best alongside PS4 in console history I think).

Again, better the Devil you know.

[Extermin8or3_]

Wwll tencent is literally part of the CCP. They were founded by the economic espionage unit within CCP's equivalent of MI6 or CIA. The purpose was to acquire engineering and tech IP and companies abroad. So yeah given the choice I'd rather Microsoft owned them. Frankly the west should be just blanket banning sales if any companies to them. But we won't because we are greedy and it may well be our undoing. It certainly risks censorship and puts freedom of expression at risk. It is a tool with which the CCP can attempt to rewrite history. (Seriously have a look Tencent's origins aren't even well hidden it's easy enough to find the reports publicly published by western governments on its origins). If you look into where it got its funding from - it was the ccp intelligence arm. They have supposedly sold their share in the company in recent years but lets be real..... all of this is before you touch on laws forcing them to cooperate with Chinese government anyway even if they don't want to give them access to tech or assit them.

No issue with amazon owning it they don't even seen particularly inclined towards having stuff exclusive to their service or anything same goes for Google who I don't think would want to spend that money now anyway.

[darkrider]

It's not enough. Cod must be exclusive on Microsoft machines . Gamers won't leave Sony because they don't want to buy Microsoft machines. They know this. That's why they are doing this. Nope, it would be better anyone else because it would stay available for everyone. Microsoft is doing this because of gp. Their numbers must rise 4 or 5 times. Their subcribers are low, the revenue is low and they need to have Netflix number of subcribers. Or else it will fail. Not even Microsoft can keep pumping billions and not getting them back

[StarkR3ality]

You guys are just blinded by your hate for a rival company which I really don't understand, mark my words that if Xbox don't get Activision, one of the others will and you'll have wished that Xbox had it.

Luckily I don't have any loyalty to any platform so I can see things clearly.

[Crows90]

@Stark

Mark my words....lol
Xbox got rare..killed them. They got lionhead studios...killed them. Got bungie...let them go. Got gears...it hasnt changed or improved. Yeah they got a great track record.

Staying with a 3rd party publisher is better than taking it away from the majority of gamers.

Xbox doesnt risk with new IP and when they do they mess it up. Sony risks. IF you care about the gaming industry you wouldnt want this deal going through either.

[chronoforce]

Microsoft have indulged in their fair share of shenanigans over the years, The kinect NSA controversy, the always online console, the introduction of buying monopoly money like Microsoft points to buy things, MTs in full priced games like Forza 5 and Halo 5, charging people to play multiplayer games and until recently even if they were free to play and in the spirit of not forgetting, they have their own history with melting hardware. The list goes on. Microsoft have in no way earned the level of trust needed to pull this merger off convincingly.

Tencent's "claws" are already in gaming, they are not new, and they are not a devil we don't know. Arguably they already own a Cod like franchise in League of Legends and have done so for a decade. China censors their games yes, but many countries do to varying degrees and companies like Tencent have little choice but to comply.
There are games in Japan in which it is perfectly fine to gamify stripping school-girls to their undies for example. If a Japanese dev wants to sell such a game in say the UK they might have hard time getting it past cert unless they censor it or change it in some way.

Microsoft have failed just as often as they have succeeded and without the financial backing of Microsoft Xbox would have failed after the OG box released. Even last generation Satya had to consider what exactly Microsoft's place was in the industry.

Microsoft have already changed the industry in ways many people don't like, and Game Pass is another example. The devil you know is better, but I think we know enough about Tencent and Amazon to see Activision nor the industry would be any worse off either of them. We know all the devils so why is Microsoft the better devil? Do Microsoft really have a plan for ABK that is sufficiently different from Tencent or Amazon? Microsoft is all in on services, mobile and cloud etc.

[Extermin8or3_]

No tencent would definitely be worse than Microsoft however amazon wouldn't be an issue. Here's a novel thought though.... activision stay independent and not be allowed to be purchased by anyone? No reason why it needs to be purchased at all tbh.

[Crows90]

No people dont hate xbox. Yes Cod sucks.

Xbox doesnt make new IP which is the issue. And now theyre doing what nobody ever liked but taking it up to over 9,000. Instead of a single permanent exclusive 3rd party multiplatform IP as we thought was the case with Rise of the Tomb Raider they are instead making a ton of popular 3rd party IP exclusive. All at once. Yeah nobody should like it no matter who done it. Nobody liked sonys bungie acquistion and looks like it stays multiplatform.

Cod sucks. But mainstream gamers love it. Therefore it makes ALL of the money.

[blue88]

I have a feeling this deal won’t go through because Microsoft lied to many times to CMA. I hope if this deal doesn’t go through Microsoft take some that 60 billion dollars and use it to fix halo instead of keep trying to buy third party companies.

[Crows90]

Or improve IP and create new IP. Create a new studio. Fix the Perfect dark problems, etc.

[darkrider]

The deal will go because Microsoft will pay to get it. one way or another...

[Bathyj]

Wow. Microsoft are making a really strong case that they suck and and Sony is awesome.

If this gaming thing doesn't work out for them they should do Playstations PR.

[RauLeCreuset]

Somebody said it.

If they are a trillion dollar corporation and still, according to them, can't, not once, dethrone Sony in over 2 decades, maybe they should exit stage left. Forget PS for a moment. Why would any reasonable gamer be comfortable having a company with such an abysmal record assuming stewardship over two of the largest and most popular 3rd party publishers?

[dumahim]

Let's hope they don't exit. Suck as they may, we still need someone pushing Sony.

[RauLeCreuset]

@dumahim

Someone doesn't have to be Microsoft, but because Microsoft has the money to hang around for two decades despite blunders and substandard efforts that would have driven other major players from the market, people conflate Microsoft with healthy competition by default. Xbox has survived because Microsoft's money affords them much greater room for error than anyone who has gotten involved in the console market to date.

[darkrider]

Damn. They think everybody is a moron. Increase price of the ps5... Now consoles sales also matter. If the videogaming division wasn't getting money from Microsoft they wouldn't ever be able to do this. Comparing Activision to other studios ... Damn they really think that everybody is really, really, really, really stupid. Only in the US. Microsoft will always be this... No matter how much money they got... That's why they have such a bad image worldwide.

[gold_drake]

their arguments dont seem to address whats been said tho.

they argue that sony has is the market leader and acquired other devs aswell, bht seem to forget that Call of Duty is one of the biggest franchise in the gaming industry.

thats like taking pkmn away from nintendo and putting it on xbox.

their "oh we're not relevant at all" underdog approach is rly pathetic.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

You know why Sony never had to worry about this sort of approval?

They lived up to their promises, and made their own IPs; instead of panic buying to make up for a whole lost generation of potential 1st-party releases.

They built their empire from the ground up, so nobody could tell them “No, that’ll make you too big.”

What games has Xbox dev’d in the past decade, Gears 5, Halo Infinite, and Forza Horizon 2? 3 decent games in an entire generation?!?

[rippermcrip]

So their argument is that Sony is the biggest, so therefore Microsoft should be allowed to engage in anti-competitive deals?

[Silly gameAr]

Microsoft is such a slimy company. Their "response" is so juvenile, I feel like a child is going "bu bu bu Sony is the bad guy! We're the good ones! We promise!"

[Vengeance1138]

Awww what's the matter Microsoft? Starting to cry? Going to throw a little tantrum if you don't get your way? Lmao

[SullysCigar]

"B- bu- but I haz monies"!

[Viljong]

Wow to xbox

[JayRyu]

Just another episode towards the inevitable!

[Silly gameAr]

It's so lame that somebody can see a multi trillion dollar company acting like a baby, and be so content with them owning 2 of the biggest publishers in gaming. Microsoft fans are built different.

[Crows90]

Well...american education is pretty poor. Dont give them word problems.

[JayRyu]

What does it matter?
Sony fans just don't want MS to own the IP EVEN IF the game is going to be on Playstation this whole generation.
Sony fans are built different as well 😀

[Bathyj]

Imagine that, not wanting the worst platform holder (by their own admission) to own everything.

If you want that you don't love gaming you only love Xbox for some stupid reason.

[blackblades]

They wasnt built different they were brainwashed. Have you seen how people were before gamepass and now after

[Thundercat77]

To think that the only motivation that Microsoft has here is just to sabotage Playstation. You don't see this "passion" to invest on internal studios as Rare or to fix Halo... No... Oh but given the opportunity to sabotage Sony, Microsoft won't hold back any Windows money to do it.

[Crows90]

Wow.
Microsoft is deliberately trying to mislead. The issue isnt just Call of Duty you silly mega corporation. The issue is that you're going around buying up some of the most popular 3rd party IP that there is out there right now. Youre just missing Ubisoft games, Sports and GTA. Then you've offically gotten pretty much every major 3rd party current IP.

Sony's success is irrelevant. Theyre succesfull to this day because of their 1st party.

The raised the prices without fear only because Microsoft fails to compete. These purchases arent a strategy of competition youre just throwing money without growing and improving the industry.

Many casuals only play cod and fifa, or another sports title. If you remove COD that is a big incentive to switch to another console you misleading pricks.

And then to sonys acquistions. Bungie? Really? Bungie used to belong to Microsoft you dummies. You let them go. Dont go complaining now and regardless if they had stayed with activision instead of becoming independent you would be owning them now wouldnt you? And a bunch of other minor devs are mentioned and then the big whoopsie with the shares in from software...the biggest game of 2022?? 2022 isnt over. Kratos may want a word with you silly people at microsft. And yea sony has more exclusives because you didnt foster your own studios.

Microsoft really looks like theyre trying to make an argument but its a childish one.

[thesoftware730]

Taking bets that the deal will still go through.

[anast]

MS gaming will look like this: Buy their subscription service or buy the game for $200 and get a crippling update so it won't run properly after a few years.

[Petebloodyonion]

What's different from the previous article posted last week?
seems like a duplicated article.

[shinoff2183]

Sonys recent buys werent 2 big publishers. Theres a huge difference microsoft. What is so hard to understand about that. Bs defense by ms

[ALMGNOON]

no way they typed "unwarranted theories" as an argument... this deal is will probably get rejected because of MS incompetence.

[tay8701]

wow, MS is the one sounding DESPERATE now. lol trying to compare the aquisitions of haven(who have yet to even release a game) and bungie( who remain independent and will continue to release multiplatform games) with the AB deal is absolutely hysterical. do they think the CMA and gamers all over the world are that stupid? things sound like they could be unraveling quickly on this deal. MS may have to make some concessions to get this deal to go through

[Crows90]

I wish they made concessions with the zenimax deal instead to be honest. Maybe in this case sony well knows that those games sold best on playstation and barely sold on xbox so perhaps they think xbox will eventually release those on playstation as well.

[JagX22]

I would absolutely encourage everyone to read the CMA's latest response to Microsoft (here: https://assets.publishing.s... At the end, you'll note this paragraph:

Responses to this issues statement
51. Any party wishing to respond to this issues statement should do so in writing, no
later than Friday 28 October 2022 by emailing [email protected] k

Everybody who can make a solid comment or remark on this matter should reply to that email by that date. Whether you're for or against the merger shouldn't matter. Please try to provide unbiased, well-thought out, fair responses as feedback to the CMA for any response to their Issues Statement.

[Focus40]

Pathetic

[Miacosa]

This seems like a narrow view just focusing on the present console market. The CMA endeavors to look at future potential harm as such with Microsoft having billions of Windows PCs and being the top third in Cloud computing with Azure. It's conceivable to see how a new company entering the market or a current smaller company being frozen out by a trillion-dollar company threatening to buy out the majority of the top publishers & franchises and then forcing a singular platform.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I hope the UK regulators shut them down just for insulting their intelligence.

Microsoft looks foolish trying to buy their way back from more than a decade’s worth of mistakes.

Maybe if Halo Infinite felt polished after 2 years post launch and $500 million pre launch, then I wouldn’t be so turned off by the idea of them buying up 90% of western devs in order to cling to a foothold in the market that they haven’t contributed to meaningfully since Gears 3 (and barely then with Halo dying).

[Focus40]

I swear you guys are pathetic if xbox gets them if not they will go after another company I hope you ready to cry about that

[JagX22]

Sorry to hear that you have such strong feelings. Keep in mind that none of us have the ability to predict the future.

[jjb1981]

CHRISTOPHER NEEDS TO STOP CRYING LIKE A WHINY LITTLE....