Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard isn't set in stone yet?

Rut row raggy!! Whoever could have saw this coming? lol :P

Anyway, I think everyone knew the deal would be reviewed so what you all think will be the verdict?

Me, I think it's just a formality and a done deal.

What say you SW?

The Story.

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Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Deal Will Be Reviewed By The FTC

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard isn't set in stone yet, as the Federal Trade Commission will be analyzing the proposed takeover for any potential anti-competitive practices.

By Darryn Bonthuys on February 1, 2022 at 5:37AM PST

Microsoft's Xbox division may be busy making certain that its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard proceeds smoothly, but the deal still has a few legislative barriers to overcome. One of the biggest hurdles in Microsoft's path is the Federal Trade Commission, which will hold an antitrust review of the company's plan to add some of the biggest gaming intellectual properties to its portfolio.

According to a person familiar with the matter and interviewed by Bloomberg, the FTC plans to analyze the takeover and see what impact it will have on its competition. Such matters are sometimes overseen by the Justice Department, although both agencies are responsible for antitrust reviews of mergers.

According to the report, the FTC will investigate Activision's gaming portfolio with Microsoft's consoles and hardware systems to see if the takeover could harm its rivals by cutting off access to some of the biggest games that are released globally. The FTC's authority is only for the US though, and it's likely that other international organizations with similar authority will also need to be won over for the deal to be approved.

Recently, the FTC has stated that it plans to more aggressively police such deals, especially when it concerns the biggest technology companies in the country. FTC Chair Lina Khan has already used the agency's power to block two massive takeovers, particularly Nvidia's plan to buy Arm Ltd. and Lockheed Martin Corp.'s move to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.

While Microsoft still plans to honor current multiplatform agreements and release several Call of Duty games for the next few years, it remains to be seen if the series becomes an Xbox-exclusive or if it even sticks to an annual release date schedule.

It's worth noting that when Minecraft came out, Microsoft continued to publish the game on competing platforms and became one of the largest publishers on PlayStation due to its popularity.

The acquisition of Bethesda was a different story though--not counting previous deals with Deathloop that were honored--as the upcoming Starfield will be a PC and Xbox Series X|S exclusive.

FTC review is normal. That Is what they are there for. Non-issue.

/Thread

Please lock.

It is a done deal. While it is a huge acquisition (mainly the price), the concern of anti trust in a sea of so many developers and publishers I don't expect it to trigger any flags. Now if it stumbles on a problem, 😈

Party poopers. lol :P

@SecretPolice: You triggered him without trying.

@Pedro:

;)

Sony fans have never loved CoD they have always loved Destiny it has always been this way.

You bad.😂

@SecretPolice: This was expected. That's why the deal won't be super final until next year. MS seems confident in it getting through though.

@Zero_epyon: @girlusocrazy:

Yeah Zero, I think what GUSC said is pretty much spot on. If on the other hand MS was already seen as the being far and away leader in the VG biz then it would likely be a different story.

Sony buying Bungie helps get this deal approved.

Of course not. MS is buying a real company. It needs anti-trust approval. It's not like they're picking up some rinky dink one hit wonder company for $3.6B. It's a large, public company for nearly $70B.

This comment has been tagged under "Shots fired". 😮

please xbox would not be here if it was not for bungie.

Yikes! Now Bungie is good?

This. If, Microsoft was in a more dominant position, this would get more scrutiny. It'll likely go through -- perhaps w/ some provisions from the FTC or Justice Department.

@SecretPolice: I approve this thread👏

Everyone else, carry on👍

1. Lol, trollage approved

2. It's an all cash deal, no way those shareholders aren't lobbying for quick approval. Deal will be done well before June 2023, my bet is 1/2023.

US anti-trust is trash, they aint stopping this deal. Microsoft will be judged by their market position, aint no one stopping a deal that makes two companies coming together 3rd place.

Bungie, who they have already owned and sold, having paid only pennies for the company, opposed to the $3.6 billion Sony is paying. haha.

It will still face scrutiny from the EU as well where they'd have to demonstrate that they would not carry out anti-competitive measures. It was explicitly stated that it all centers around how they treat exclusivity following the deal. Spelling it out sounds strange to me coming from previous gaming eras: world governments and their various trade regulatory institutions are ensuring Call of Duty will release on their competitor's platform following the deal.

Still probably going to slither through, as usual with consolidation.

what does that have to do with what I said? that ricky dink one hit wonder was halo. the game that made xbox what xbox is today. name another company that saved a entire console from existents? xbox let them go like they did nothing for them. in stead gave bungies game to 343 studio.

xbox should still own bungie if they didn't have that dumb ass during the 360 era turn his head while losing developers at the time.

So the new narrative that Sony fannies are subbing to is that Bungie made Xbox.🤔 The grasping is getting pretty sensational.😎

That rinky dink, one hit wonder is currently Destiny. MS bought Bungie for peanuts, took all of their valuable IP and then sold the company for a profit.

wow you just made Microsoft look really bad as a company. they did not sell the company off. bungie left Microsoft because they refused to pay them what they deserved.

funny they made one game sense they left Microsoft and it was as you say a one hit wonder which made my point even more.

Microsoft made them who they are then turn there backs to them and bungie left.

FACT IS HALO WOULD OF LAUNCH ON TIME AND WOULD OF BEEN A WAY BETTER LOOKING GAME IF BUNGIE WAS STILL AT MICROSOFT PERIOD.

this is not a xbox vs PlayStation thing.

this is about the team at bungie that put xbox on the battlefield.

If (and that's a big stretch) the deal gets blocked, there's a 3 billion dollar break off bonus to pay? I'm in the wrong business

This is what the FTC does.

I remember people saying the DOJ needed to get involved, lol. The FTC handles all these deals with this many zeroes in the purchase amount. But make no mistake, the deal is NOT gonna get blocked. Activision was actively shopping themselves in an industry with hundreds of developers still active and dozens of publishers. There’s no risk of a monopoly whatsoever.

The Microsoft/Activision deal will sail through. Microsoft can point to several reasons why it won't pose an anti-trust threat. They didn't yank Minecraft from competing platforms when they bought Mojang. They didn't yank Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo when they bought Bethesda. And the single biggest property in the Activision/Blizzard/King portfolio, Candy Crush, is primarily a mobile game that sells on platforms that Microsoft does not control.

Microsoft absorbed all of their value and let them go. Now Sony gets Microsoft's sloppy seconds.

So, MS funding a game that you would have never heard about and making a flag ship game has nothing do with the game's success. Interesting.🤔

@Pedro: but it was bungie that put Xbox on the map. I'm saying this to a Xbox fan that is calling bungie a one hit wonder company. I get Xbox funded it.

Bungie is not a one hit wonder of a company.

Like people have said, this is standard practice for sealing a purchase. Beth/Zeni went through the same, and I doubt it'll be blocked. TBH, this could be a good thing for Acti/Blizz given their recent (very) bad press.

AND it was Xbox who put Bungie on the map. The success of both entities were mutual and interconnected. Bungie is known for two games series.

MS clearly stated that the deal won't finalize until 2023. Same thing happened with the Bethesda acquisition.

@iamthetruth101: Man, take that nonsense somewhere else.

You keep doing whatever it takes to protect your virginity, bud.

@Pedro: yeah ok i can see that. But it was Microsoft head guy there the dumbass that almost took Xbox down that turned there head on bungie. I remember talking about it in system wars many years ago lol.

I just wanted to say something to that person that downed a great dev team. I don't even like halo or destiny but I know a good developer when I see one. That is why I laughed at the new halo because 343 are clowns compared to bungie.

@iamthetruth101: Huh, it takes a brave person to type out something that incredibly dumb and run with it.

@gifford38: Fair enough but countering bullshit with more bullshit just creates more bullshit.

Bungie does what it does well. Xbox and Bungie were a excellent duo that greatly benefited from the collaboration. It is clear that despite the positive view folks had with the 360 Era, Xbox was a shit company because of their shit policies. Bungie bailing on them was a smart decision. However, I am not moved by the worth of this 3.6 billion dollar deal. Currently, it seems ridiculous but, it is not my money.😅

Edit: The new Halo Infinite campaign is pretty darn good. I can't say the same for the last two.

@iamthetruth101: damn bro what did women ever do to you…no strong females in your life?

You have an innate ability to find a way to really **** a thread up

Is normal but that doesn't mean is a non issue, specially when it comes to MS.

This isn't you average purchase this is a huge buy that could result in MS calling all the shots in more than 1 way, from hurting the free competition to increase prices for the consumers, monopolies are never good.

I think it will pass but is not a sure thing.

In fact AT&T try to buy Tmobile back in 2011 and the Antitrus division of the department of justice filed a lawsuit, that forced AT&T to stop the bid to buy them, that was for 39 billions, this deal is for 70 billions one is close to double that of AT&T.

So you can expect that there will be some resistance, i don't see sony opposing the deal, but if the do and nintendo as well do they may halt it.

But how i seeing things, i think gamepass will be everywhere from xbox to PS to switch or what ever come next from nintendo as well as TV and set up boxes.

Without Xbox, I imagine Bungie would have continued languishing in obscurity making games for MacOS, at least until Apple decided to basically abandon the MacOS gaming market.

Halo was coming regardless of MS buying bungie or not, in fact it was slated to be on Mac and PS2 i remember well, how good or bad it would have been who knows, but it was coming.

Now 343 isn't bungie and it has been mighty obvious, the highest point of the series was when Bungie was making it, in the same way it happen with Gears of war and Epic.

Bungie was bought to make more money period you should know that.

The worst potential outcome from this anti-trust review is some kind of ruling that orders ABK not to restrict content from competing platforms it has historically supported (meaning PlayStation) for 5-10 years or something. But they'll still let the deal go through.