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

[the-pi-guy]

FTC: Microsoft's agreements with Nvidia, Nintendo, etc are "filled with loopholes and speculative commitments"

Says Nvidia deal clause shows MS can "unilaterally" opt to renegotiate

Says Microsoft has resisted testimony/discovery on the deals. Wants them excluded from hearings pic.twitter.com/dSCFHnXCWY

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 22, 2023

[nnodley]

A "major" reason Microsoft acquired Bethesda was because they heard that Sony was possibly looking at making Starfield exclusive to PlayStation (3rd party deal) and 'Xbox needed to change that'.

Via: Phil Spencer at FTC hearing#Xbox #PlayStation #FTC pic.twitter.com/BSmqwQoKM0

— Shinobi602 (@shinobi602) June 23, 2023

Good lord this makes Phil spencer and Xbox look really bad, imo

Phil spencer just sounds bitter now

[Legend]

Did microsoft show emails to prove that? Spending $12 billion to stop starfield from launching first on playstation would be crazy.

[the-pi-guy]

Did microsoft show emails to prove that? Spending $12 billion to stop starfield from launching first on playstation would be crazy.

Microsoft's Xbox chief has revealed one of the key reasons behind the acquisition of Bethesda parent company ZeniMax: potential Starfield PlayStation exclusivity. Speaking at the FTC v. Microsoft hearing today, Phil Spencer revealed that Sony regularly pays competitors to "skip our platform" and Microsoft felt it needed to own Bethesda to compete.

"When we acquired ZeniMax one of the impetus for that is that Sony had done a deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire... to pay Bethesda to not ship those games on Xbox," said Spencer. "So the discussion about Starfield when we heard that Starfield was potentially also going to end up skipping Xbox, we can't be in a position as a third-place console where we fall further behind on our content ownership so we've had to secure content to remain viable in the business.

The Verge

[nnodley]

Yeah but was the game really gonna be fully exclusive or was it just gonna be a timed deal. Same with deathloop and ghostwire, were those always just fully PlayStation exclusive or did Sony just have a timed deal?

Xbox has also done this same shame, like with rise of the tomb raider and the year exclusivity.

The fact that MS can just up and potentially buy one of the biggest publishers because they don't want Sony to make deals like that is ridiculous

[the-pi-guy]

Wilkinson makes it clear the preliminary injunction case determines the fate of the merger.

"If we can't close by July 18, nobody could withstand that. We certainly can't."

— Derek Strickland (@DeekeTweak) June 22, 2023

Nice.

[Legend]

Wilkinson makes it clear the preliminary injunction case determines the fate of the merger.

"If we can't close by July 18, nobody could withstand that. We certainly can't."

— Derek Strickland (@DeekeTweak) June 22, 2023

Nice.

Sounds like hyperbole, just like Sony saying they'd be ruined if the deal went through.

But it could be the case that MS would see the writing on the wall if they lost this.


How does cma work? Microsoft just ignores them and merges?

[the-pi-guy]

[BananaKing]

Was just gonna come and post this

Suprise suprise... who could have figured thats what they are doing? I'm shocked I tell you. Shocked  

[kitler53]

./smoking gun

[Legend]

MS has also described it as a "thought experiment," for the record, not their plan now.

On the stand, Booty said Microsoft was basically no longer focused on hoarding content. When asked by the judge for an example of a newer approach, he mentioned Disney's challenge to Netflix

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 26, 2023

[kitler53]

no longer focused on hoarding content?!?!

...then stop canceling games planned for playstation.  it's not sharing content when the asterisk is "on any MS platform". 

[nnodley]

So buy up everything to prevent a competitor from becoming the Disney of games all while then becoming the Disney of games because you bought up everything.

Massive facepalm

[Legend]

no longer focused on hoarding content?!?!

...then stop canceling games planned for playstation.  it's not sharing content when the asterisk is "on any MS platform".

It's pretty weird. Plus Disney removed all their Marvel content from Netflix so that's not a positive comparison.

[kitler53]

I just don't get how half of era can shrug this off.  they are usually so progressive on thing but they have a huge Blindspot here.  really goes to show most people's principles don't exist once they see something to gain.