Bet: Will the Activision Deal close? - It has closed

[kitler53]

What's our thoughts on Phil Spencer assuming the deal falls apart? Will he be replaced over this or do you think the higher ups still have faith in him?

Same goes for fanboys. Will they still have faith in him? Bethesda + Obsidian might be enough to carry the rest of the gen.

i'm 50/50 on phil being replaced.   

tbh if he is replaced i think it will have a lot less to do with ABK and a lot more with the 30% drop YoY in xbox hardware.   phil has been leading xbox for almost 10 years and was among leadership since before that.   that's a long time at the helm with realistically nothing to show for it.   i dunno that xbox is in worse shape than before but it's not in better shape either and you can't just blame it on ABK not being acquired later this year.  

gamepass is apparently stagnating.   halo was a disaster.   1st party has been on a drought for ages and if you really dig deep into the details,.. in 2022 and 2023 both MS's 1st party line-up is almost entirely bethesda.   they'd have almost literally nothing without that acquisition.  i mean seriously,.. how deep in shame would MS have been if for 2022 AND 2023 this was their entire 1st party line-up:
- Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition
- GoldenEye 007
- Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventures
- Minecraft Legends

MS doesn't need ABK they need someone at the helm that can get these studios functioning.   spencer has been there long enough that if we was going to succeed at that he would have done it by now.

[Legend]

What is your reasoning?

On the Activision part, I feel like it's being pushed above Phil's paygrade. The President and CEO of MS have been pushing on Activision being acquired pretty hard:

Xbox revenue is very good, even if hardware is pretty awful, and even if there just haven't been many software launches (read: any in the past year), they're still managing to do very well.  

Losing the deal is a pretty big blunder. Plus they'll have to pay a $3 billion cancellation fee to Activision.

Maybe they're fine with that and still confident in Spencer, maybe they need a fall guy, or maybe they're not confident in Spencer. I don't know.

[the-pi-guy]

Losing the deal is a pretty big blunder. Plus they'll have to pay a $3 billion cancellation fee to Activision.

Maybe they're fine with that and still confident in Spencer, maybe they need a fall guy, or maybe they're not confident in Spencer. I don't know.

Yeah but that doesn't seem like it's fully on Spencer.  

[the-pi-guy]

Its pretty wild watching people pivot to basically "MS should extort the UK government with security threats and economic threats to overturn this ruling"

[kitler53]

Its pretty wild watching people pivot to basically "MS should extort the UK government with security threats and economic threats to overturn this ruling"

yeah.  I also like the one where the easiest way to overturn this is to get government to eliminate the CMA that was tasked with getting tougher on big tech...

[the-pi-guy]

Microsoft President Brad Smith savages the UK, calling yesterday the firm's "darkest day" in 40 years trading in the country. https://t.co/JVdJWfUuAx #Xbox

— Jez ???? (@JezCorden) April 27, 2023

[kitler53]

as much as schreier is absolutely a tool,.. I do look forward to the day he inevitably releases a piece on the behind the scenes emotions of this moment. 

[nnodley]

everyone: MS execs and xbox fanboys are all losing their shame. Like grow the fudge up

[BananaKing]

This is just so awesome to see.

Im very glad for the sake of the industry that this didn't go through.

But also the reactions are hilarious. Some of the takes are just insane. They are acting like MS has no chance to compete unless they buy up everything

[kitler53]

This is just so awesome to see.

Im very glad for the sake of the industry that this didn't go through.

But also the reactions are hilarious. Some of the takes are just insane. They are acting like MS has no chance to compete unless they buy up everything

maybe it's true.  they suck at making games so the only way to complete is to ensure playstation doesn't have any?   

sounds like the CMA did their job by blocking this to protect consumers.

[BananaKing]

maybe it's true.  they suck at making games so the only way to complete is to ensure playstation doesn't have any?  

sounds like the CMA did their job by blocking this to protect consumers.

They can compete, the issue is that they are utterly incompetent and dont listen to the right people when making decisions.

Nintendo, Sony, and steam all managed to carve out a big profitable market for themselves, its Microsofts own fault they didn't manage to achieve as much success. Steam even built their success on a Microsoft platform. That says a lot

[kitler53]

They can compete, the issue is that they are utterly incompetent and dont listen to the right people when making decisions.

Nintendo, Sony, and steam all managed to carve out a big profitable market for themselves, its Microsofts own fault they didn't manage to achieve as much success. Steam even built their success on a Microsoft platform. That says a lot

something something about quoting myself for that post i made about being customer centric...

[the-pi-guy]

There's an "analyst" that people on Era were posting about a lot throughout this whole thing.

He's been becoming increasingly unhinged for a while. But even moreso after the block.  

[SWORDF1SH]

I never understand gamers. They WILL still get CoD and if MS want it on Game Pass they can pay for it to be on there for a fraction of the price they would of paid for the studio and nobody will have to worry about the possibility of MS ruining it.

[the-pi-guy]

Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer acknowledged the company's disappointment, saying the UK's decision will slow the approval process, according to a person who attended the meeting. Still, he said Microsoft's desire to pursue the deal hasn't wavered, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing an internal event.

Spencer told staffers that Microsoft President Brad Smith was up at 2 a.m. Seattle time Wednesday drafting a response to the UK Competition and Markets Authority. He said Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood, who oversees acquisitions, held a senior leadership meeting the same day.

The Xbox chief said the acquisition was intended to speed up Microsoft's gaming plans, but doesn't represent the entirety of the company's gaming strategy, which would move ahead even without Activision, the person said.

The CMA said concerns about the deal couldn't be solved by remedies such as the sale of blockbuster title Call of Duty or other solutions involving promises to permit rivals to offer the game on their platforms, according to a statement Wednesday. Microsoft said it will appeal the decision.

Bloomberg

For MS this seems to be above Phil Spencer's pay grade.