Activision (ABK)

What IP Should MS/ABK Bring Back?

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Will update this if relevant….



*edit to update below

www.realclearmarkets.com

Gaming the FTC: Japan Colludes With Antitrust Regulators Against MSFT

While American politicians and the media focus on China’s anticompetitive practices, similar practices in Japan go largely unnoticed. American auto-manufacturers have long suffered from Japanese
www.realclearmarkets.com www.realclearmarkets.com

A classic example of this Japanese protectionism is Sony and its PlayStation video gaming console, which controls more than 95% of the Japanese market for high-end consoles. The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) turns a blind eye as Sony violates Japan's antitrust laws with its aggressive efforts to stifle competition from its main competitor in the market, Microsoft and its Xbox console and subscription service.

…..

Sony rewards game publishers for not distributing their games through Xbox. While that goes unpunished, the JFTC aggressively investigates American companies.

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), America's competition regulator along with the Justice Department, is effectively aiding Sony's monopolization of the Japanese market by trying to block a merger that would help Microsoft compete in the gaming industry. In December, the FTC filed a complaint seeking to prevent Microsoft from acquiring Activision, a publisher of video games, most famously Call of Duty.
 
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From the lawyer

——————

The CMA published an addendum to the provisional findings (17 pages)

Inquiry Group has now revised its view, and provisionally concludes that Merger may not be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the market for the supply of console gaming services in the UK.

Time to respond to the addendum of the PF: 31 March 2023.

Summary (2 pages): the concerns about the console market have been dropped, only the ones about cloud gaming remain.

Press release:
  • New evidence provisionally alleviates concerns in relation to supply of gaming consoles in the UK.
  • Previously stated provisional view that deal raises concerns in cloud gaming unaffected.
  • Investigation continues, with final report still due by 26 April 2023.
Yes, the CMA has changed the original PF. It doesn’t happen often :p
 


In February, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published provisional findings setting out that the deal raises competition concerns in relation to both console gaming and cloud gaming services in the UK. The publication of the provisional findings initiated a period of consultation in which the CMA invited responses to those findings from interested parties and continued to gather further information.

The CMA has received a significant amount of new evidence in response to its original provisional findings. Having considered this new evidence carefully, together with the wide range of information gathered before those provisional findings were issued, the CMA inquiry group has updated its provisional findings and reached the provisional conclusion that, overall, the transaction will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming in the UK.

The most significant new evidence provided to the CMA relates to Microsoft’s financial incentives to make Activision’s games, including Call of Duty (CoD), exclusive to its own consoles. While the CMA’s original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios, new data (which provides better insight into the actual purchasing behaviour of CoD gamers) indicates that this strategy would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario. On this basis, the updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation.

The CMA’s addendum to its provisional findings today relates only to competition in the supply of consoles and not to competition in the supply of cloud gaming services, where the CMA is continuing to carefully consider the responses provided in relation to the original provisional findings. The CMA’s merger investigation continues, and it remains due to issue its final report by 26 April 2023.
 
karmakid said:


In February, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published provisional findings setting out that the deal raises competition concerns in relation to both console gaming and cloud gaming services in the UK. The publication of the provisional findings initiated a period of consultation in which the CMA invited responses to those findings from interested parties and continued to gather further information.

The CMA has received a significant amount of new evidence in response to its original provisional findings. Having considered this new evidence carefully, together with the wide range of information gathered before those provisional findings were issued, the CMA inquiry group has updated its provisional findings and reached the provisional conclusion that, overall, the transaction will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming in the UK.

The most significant new evidence provided to the CMA relates to Microsoft’s financial incentives to make Activision’s games, including Call of Duty (CoD), exclusive to its own consoles. While the CMA’s original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios, new data (which provides better insight into the actual purchasing behaviour of CoD gamers) indicates that this strategy would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario. On this basis, the updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation.

The CMA’s addendum to its provisional findings today relates only to competition in the supply of consoles and not to competition in the supply of cloud gaming services, where the CMA is continuing to carefully consider the responses provided in relation to the original provisional findings. The CMA’s merger investigation continues, and it remains due to issue its final report by 26 April 2023.
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This was all obvious months a go.
 
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The Wolf King said:
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Just confirm it so we can move on.
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Kvally said:
Get this deal done ASAP so Diablo 4 can be tossed into Game Pass in June :p
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I guess the next biggest hurdle is the FTC, will more of a waiting game now…. But maybe with CMAs findings and approval it may get get fast tracked.

But even if it does happen in June, I doubt it’ll be on GP day one or even the same month….I feel like it’ll be a few months if and when it were to happen, at least this year, hopefully 😆
 
karmakid said:
I guess the next biggest hurdle is the FTC, will more of a waiting game now…. But maybe with CMAs findings and approval it may get get fast tracked.

But even if it does happen in June, I doubt it’ll be on GP day one or even the same month….I feel like it’ll be a few months if and when it were to happen, at least this year, hopefully 😆
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I think the FTC hurdle would be an issue after closing. They can close without FTC.
 
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Kuu2 said:
And it is done.

This is going to be wild the next few years.
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It will be interesting, do hope they form new teams or allow other internal or third party devs to develop new games with retired IPs….I want Tony Hawk 3+4, and StarCraft Ghost

There’s so many possibilities to take current IPs and mix and mash assets/characters into other games. They can have a massive roster if they finally make a new killer instinct or a more modern fighter developed by say arc system works
 
The Living Tribunal said:
Why do people think Sony is just going to be able to buy a publisher? If anything, the hoopla Microsoft had to overcome is going to be even harder for Sony BECAUSE they are the Market leader.

Please sensai, make it make sense.
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Not to mention Microsoft might actually make some legal noise should Sony try to acquire another developer. Sony burned some bridges with this merger.
 
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