Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has claimed that blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of the Call of Duty publisher would represent a major blow to the UK government’s ambition of becoming a technology superpower.
He’s concerned. If the deal goes ahead I would think he will make multiple hundred millions of dollars. The CMA are not concerned about that kind of threat.
And he very likely will escape if the deal goes through.
Microsoft seems quite okay with that, but there's plenty of blame to go around there. Literally none of the console manufacturers halted game sales when this all happened. It is embarrassing.
@ fox “ Who does he think he is the Godfather” No he’s more like the blob’s father. Did you see how fat he is for a moment I thought it was Jaba the hut
If you don't let this American company buy this other American company, the UK will become Death Valley, which is an American reference, because absolutely no publisher wants to sell CoD, WoW, or Diablo 4 in the UK otherwise?
In all honesty, if anyone buys them that is already a publisher in the industry, we are screwed. If Microsoft is allowed to buy them, then there is zero stopping Tencent from gobbling up the rest of the industry.
***If MS is allowed to buy them you seriously think tencent eould be able to.***
There would be no legal foundation for stopping them other than "We No Like China" which would be a political nightmare in and of itself. This action will set the precedent that buying up IPs via publisher buyouts is fine for the consumer and not at all anti-competitive.
What you guys need to realize is they are dying. Eventually Call of Duty will fall. They aren't making any new ips and they can't afford the risk. They realize that now is the time to sell before the dream crashes down.
except isn't he expected to continue leading Act/Blizz post merger? hard to get a golden parachute when you're staying on the job. Granted, considering most of his compensation has likely been a treasure trove of stock, yeah, he's in for a major payday but a golden parachute, hardly.
Bobby is right you cant appeal this in the UK what tech company would want to move there . They are trying to get tech companies to come to the UK but they make stupid decisions you cant appeal. Tencent has bought so many companies and they are worried about Microsoft and not the CCP censors.
You can appeal it just it undergoes judicial review not a full blown court case with all its intricacies. What is assessed is if the process by which the CMA made its decision was fair and evidence based. It's actually a very reasonable and fair process that is less open to abuse.
The UK is 1st in Europe and 3rd in the world by tech industry size. UK tech companies have raised more than France and Germany combined. 3 million employed in tech £10 billion raised for fintech every year, 8 cities have more than 2 unicorns. Have you been living under a rock?
Yeah, for the first time. Just like Microsoft, they went from 3 years to 5 year and 10 years for Cod on the ps5.... They just don't want to say it will be always on all platforms. It's really easy to see. They just need to bend knee and the deal is approved.
They never said 3 or 5 years, you're echoing Jim Ryan's words. The deal Sony had with Activision was for 3 more years, I'm not sure why people expect a commitment from MS beyond 10 years, it's unreasonable and I'd be surprised if anyone else is doing anywhere close to that commitment with their games. Also I'm pretty that 10 year agreement will be contractual.
"I'm not sure why people expect a commitment from MS beyond 10 years, it's unreasonable and I'd be surprised if anyone else is doing anywhere close to that commitment with their games."
the more reason why this buyout shouldn't be approved!
That deal is not going to go through and thank god for that. Not only it would benifit no one except Xbox fanboys, but Microsoft are garbage and can't manage their studios. If they could, they would have good games like Sony and Nintendo and wouldn't need to buy publishers just to keep games off other platforms.
Cause, if he's leaving, MS/Activision's going to walk away from the hundreds of millions in revenue the UK represents. Like he'd have that kind of pull even if he stays.
So if the deal fails they'd just stop releasing games in a petty revenge move? Yeah I'm sure all the shareholders will be happy with missing out on the billions CoD makes on Sony platforms, much more than Xbox generates for them, I'm sure they'll allow that.
@SoulWarrior Tell that to Ea they made billions off sega when sega pissed them off they dropped them completely sega made EA sports and EA dropped them anyway. EA games did not sell on Nintendo most of their games was sega exclusives with some coming to PC.
if the deal fails, they can't just leave PS out of COD for now as they already have a deal with Sony for a couple more years and PS is their biggest earner BY FAR for COD anyway. Sure you can be a dumb-dumb and cancel the PS version out of revenge but you will have all the other shareholders suing you to shreds!
King Wart would do best to shut his mouth right about now. He escaped the boiling water of scandals for now...
...for now.
That kind of sounds like a threat
Who does he think he is the Godfather
Shut up Bobby
Can somebody please arrest him?