CALL OF DUTY COULD BE BANNED IN THE UK

"The future of the mega franchise seems to be in doubt in the UK, as we have become the only country so far to block the purchase of Call of Duty publisher, Activision Blizzard, by Microsoft".

"The Microsoft head honcho will also apparently provide the UK government reassurances the acquisition of Activision will do no harm, adding they 'remain committed to finding creative and constructive ways to address remaining regulatory concerns."

We will find out for sure if the UK plans to eventually agree to the takeover in July, as an open hearing for the appeal will take place.

(For more info)

https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/call-of-duty-banned-uk-government-talks-155066-20230605

Thoughts?

@Mods-I never saw a thread on this topic before mine. If there is one then lock this thread.

Subtext: Up the bribe money.

Thank god, we gotta protect the kids somehow.

Oh MS, blocking an entire region as retaliation! Classy...

Does it really matter? ;o

The UK amounts to a pimple on a bovine butt. lol :P

The British Empire is back, baby.

I suspect that is the case too. Probably paying off GOP in the US because of Lina Khan, I suspect.

Of all the games to be banned it's cod.

@robert_sparkes: The UK cod wars II?

What a weird country.

@nintendoboy16: lol, because it isn’t the UK that is the only country blocking the deal….it’s ms blocking the uk?

First they left the EU and now Call of Duty. The former empire is in rapid decline it seems…

@BIOKILLER123: it's possible, but I think Parliament may step in.

Lots of members are none-too-happy that MS has started saying "The UK may not be the best place for a tech hub", while at the same time, the rest of the EU is saying "Please, Microsoft, come here instead!"

The UK needs to **** off with this. Just approve it and stop wasting everyone's time.

Terrorists win

Blame the Brexit.

Good.

this is amazing...but once AB aquisition goes through, these kinds of sales numbers will never happen because of day1 gamepass. This is a real scam, MS needs to delay the launch of new AA and AAA games on gp to 6 months or even an year so they can maximize profit. Plus putting games on gamepass is devaluing these games. The brand reputation needs to be held to a certain standard, and the free gp standard doesn't work.

Not only will CoD be blocked for U.K, this will also hurt Sony's PS5 CoD version so technically, they'll lose money more than MS and Sony console is useless without CoD...or so I was told.

Xbox gamers don't buy games......

Xbox studios call of duty

I heard the opposite:

UK PM Rishi Sunak Will ‘Strategically Steer’ The CMA To ‘Not Get In The Way’

It seems there's some disagreement in the UK government, with Rishi Sunak apparently wanting the merger to go ahead whereas the CMA are blocking it.

@uninspiredcup: All Hail Britannia!

How much is MS paying him?

The CMA is going to be the laughing stock of the tech world if Microsoft pulls out of the UK

@nintendoboy16: do you have proof of this or are you relying on conspiracy theories? 🤔

@nintendoboy16: Bruv, you can't bribe the UK prime minister... Or maybe you can? The UK economy has been tanking lately, so I wouldn't be surprised if the UK government be taking bribes.

@theam0g: The FTC hasn't approved yet either. So we don't know for sure if it's just the UK opposing the acquisition, or if the US will join them. FTC/USA is the most important one for MS/Activision, as that's their home turf.

The UK sure as hell wasn't gonna put up with EA's gambling in the games when the UK busted them for that and even I doubt EA could have bribe the UK Ministers if it wasn't that serious.

I find MS trying to bribe their way is farfetched.

Look at your games before talking about others🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭

Come on! Microsoft is hellbent on letting this massive buyout pass. When they are being this consistent and it's passing in most parts of the world (including China, shockingly)?

It's not that uncommon for politicians to be paid off by corporations.

Citation needed😑

Why?

Microsoft to pay criminal fine to settle U.S. anti-bribery charges

Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes, whistleblower alleges

He doesn't have to take 'bribes'. Most probably he already had shares/options in AB/MS etc. so it's in his interest for the deal to go through regardless of if it's better or worse for the consumers/competition etc. Isn't he one of the richest people in UK? You don't become one by being nice or caring about the working class.

What does that even mean? Lol.... I think maybe take a deep breath?

I would almost be glad if it was banned in my country.

Quote from CS.

This man understands capitalism.

Now that you mention it, most of Sunak's wealth comes from his wife, whose father is the CEO of Infosys, an Indian IT company worth many billions. Interestingly, Infosys is helping Microsoft develop their cloud infrastructure... In other words, Rishi Sunak has business ties to Microsoft!

MS doesn't have to pay them anything -they just have to show the willingness to pull out of the UK. If the UK makes doing business unfavorable enough that MS leaves, the rest of tech might very well follow.

In which case, the UK just cut their nose off to spite their face. It looks like the PM of the UK isn't about to let that happen.

People seem to forget that Microsoft has over $100b in cash reserves alone, and the cost of leaving the UK would probably be net with the cost of having to pay penalties for not acquiring AB.

I don't sub to speculations and conspiracy theories. You are making a claim that a deal that has been blocked, would only be unblocked because of bribery. That is a loaded claim especially when the most logical reason would be politics/economics.

Members of the UK government had to "reassure" foreign companies that the UK isn't "closed for business" after the CMAs decision.

Very few people are on the CMAs side with this. Even within the government. And at a time when the UK economy isn't doing great for various reasons.

The worst thing, is that the CMA chose cloud gaming to be their hill to die on? A business that no one has really gotten off the ground.

I think at most they might have to exclude content from Game Pass in UK if they pre-empt the appeal to expedite the merger pending the appeal. Whatever they do I'm sure they'll explore all options and not do anything that would have any long standing consequences.

They start their appeal hearings in July so they may weigh whether doing something to expedite the merger is worth possibly upsetting the judge there, who already seems to have a strong grasp of this kind of territory he's overseeing already read through the CMA decision and been critical of the CMAs conclusions and rationales during their preliminary hearings. So, MS is off to a good start there. I heard the proceedings could take a couple weeks once started, and MS could potentially get a favorable outcome that nullifies the CMA's decision on the merger. It's a maybe. Whatever MS does though, I don't think they'll risk these preceedings through an expedited action, if such actions risk doing so.

Overall the UK market is a less consequential as compared to the gain of the other markets where the merger has been approved, so, if MS is asked to choose between the market outside the UK versus the UK, it's a simple choice. Still, I don't see them turning on the market entirely, and any exclusion from the region may be temporary, or may be limited to something like excluding the content through Game Pass, or temporarily administer control of the IP through an impartial third party.

The UK is the largest overseas market for Xbox. Losing their largest overseas market would be a big blow to Xbox. It's not an easy choice at all, but would require Xbox to sacrifice its largest overseas market.

@Jag85: "The UK is the largest overseas market for Xbox. Losing their largest overseas market would be a big blow to Xbox. It's not an easy choice at all, but would require Xbox to sacrifice its largest overseas market."

I don't think they'll do anything that severs their business from UK entirely, just exclude the content that's the issue. What can be gained outside UK will be far more substantial than what's lost there. And I don't think they'll do anything permanent, just temporary measures while the CMA appeal gets sorted.

@lamprey263: What can they gain outside the UK that could make up for the loss of the UK? I highly doubt they'll manage to crack the Asian markets after numerous failed attempts. That wouldn't be worth sacrificing the UK, which has the most loyal Xbox fanbase outside the US.

If you think CoD is going to be banned in a Western nation for any reason, you need to get off the internet and touch some grass.