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Microsoft comes out swinging a big stick against UK Regulators

KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,975
in The Pub at MMORPG.COM
Report from Bloomberg which was picked up by several outlets shows Microsoft is ready to take off the gloves now.

"Microsoft could consider pulling Activision from the UK market as one extreme option to bypass the country’s block of its proposed $69bn acquisition."

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-could-withdraw-activision-from-the-uk-to-counter-acquisition-block-its-claimed/#

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ValdemarJ

Comments

  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    Hah. I was only joking when I called that a possibility and also called it a nuclear option as I recall :)
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • ValdemarJValdemarJ Member RarePosts: 1,378
    The CMA has vastly overreached its authority and they're either going to backpedal furiously or things will get ugly.

    After the initial ruling, the CMA amended their position such that neither Microsoft or ABK may even discuss acquisition or investment in each other without prior approval from the regulatory authority. Obviously Microsoft is ignoring that during their appeal, which has left me wondering how the CMA and UK will respond.

    The bigger issue here isn't Microsoft pulling ABK from the UK (and possibly by direct association the Commonwealth as well), but how this will chill business relations between Microsoft and the UK and even more so, other tech giants wanting to do business in the UK. Even if the CMA completely backpedals, there has been serious damage done to the reputation and viability of large tech doing business with the UK going forward. Big tech is going to want some guarantees, before it makes big investments, that capricious regulatory bodies won't play PR politics and kill their growth plans.
    KyleranNanfoodleAeanderAmaranthar
    Bring back the Naked Chicken Chalupa!
  • mekheremekhere Member UncommonPosts: 273
    edited June 2023
    well at least we know bill gates is really immersed into harvesting resources. he bought enough farm land to craft for years. he should have bought amazon. they can roleplay new world all day on his farmland and create real tested, real time player expansions. then he can buy sheds and erect a tiny housing zone.  :D  
    Andemnon
    This user is a registered flex offender. 
    Someone who is registered as being a flex offender is a person who feels the need to flex about everything they say.
    Always be the guy that paints the house in the dark.  
    Lucidity can be forged with enough liquidity and pharmed for decades with enough compound interest that a reachable profit would never end. 

  • Veiled_lightVeiled_light Member UncommonPosts: 855
    Bye then, I wont miss them, take EA with you as well.
    Andemnon
  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,875
    MS will do this after all the legal options are pursued. Satya Nadella was asked if MS would take this action and clearly said, lets see how these proceedings go first. But MS has all the power to close this deal and withhold ABK products from these markets till this gets worked out. When most of the world has approved the sale of these products under MS. This is 100% over reach of these bodies and has some agenda they are trying to execute by these actions. 
    ValdemarJ
  • XiaokiXiaoki Member EpicPosts: 4,036
    That's definitely a smart choice.

    There's only 2 markets in the world that give a crap about the Xbox and the UK is the other one.

    I guess MS is looking to put itself in 4th place in a 3 man console race.
    NanfoodleAeander
  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,875
    By Monday, MS will have handed over the 70 billion to close this deal. How the CMA handles this will be on them. They have lost all ability to hammer out a deal. Every market has approved the deal. What's left for them to request? 
    ValdemarJ
  • ValdemarJValdemarJ Member RarePosts: 1,378
    Nanfoodle said:
    By Monday, MS will have handed over the 70 billion to close this deal. How the CMA handles this will be on them. They have lost all ability to hammer out a deal. Every market has approved the deal. What's left for them to request? 
    They're backpedaling in 4th gear, just like a few of our British friends predicted.

    I expect they will demand a few token concessions specific to the UK, spin it as how they planned it all along, and sell it as them being firm with foreign tech giants.

    My prediction is that Microsoft will make a lot of money (what they really wanted all along), keep putting just above minimum effort into their Xbox platform, and be content with letting Sony and Nintendo lead the console market.

    Nanfoodle
    Bring back the Naked Chicken Chalupa!
  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,875
    ValdemarJ said:
    Nanfoodle said:
    By Monday, MS will have handed over the 70 billion to close this deal. How the CMA handles this will be on them. They have lost all ability to hammer out a deal. Every market has approved the deal. What's left for them to request? 
    They're backpedaling in 4th gear, just like a few of our British friends predicted.

    I expect they will demand a few token concessions specific to the UK, spin it as how they planned it all along, and sell it as them being firm with foreign tech giants.

    My prediction is that Microsoft will make a lot of money (what they really wanted all along), keep putting just above minimum effort into their Xbox platform, and be content with letting Sony and Nintendo lead the console market.

    My guess is MS will do everything to earn a space on PS and Nintendo. Making billions on their platforms. Sony dropped 2 billion to grow live service games so they will need leverage in MS to do the same. Will be fun watching them all fight for our gamer dollars. 
  • OG_SolareusOG_Solareus Member RarePosts: 1,041
    edited July 2023
    Big sticks and tight holes. Little White House Cocaine,,, things will happen
    F2P or DIE !
  • VrikaVrika Member LegendaryPosts: 7,973
    ValdemarJ said:
    Nanfoodle said:
    By Monday, MS will have handed over the 70 billion to close this deal. How the CMA handles this will be on them. They have lost all ability to hammer out a deal. Every market has approved the deal. What's left for them to request? 
    They're backpedaling in 4th gear, just like a few of our British friends predicted.

    I expect they will demand a few token concessions specific to the UK, spin it as how they planned it all along, and sell it as them being firm with foreign tech giants.

    My prediction is that Microsoft will make a lot of money (what they really wanted all along), keep putting just above minimum effort into their Xbox platform, and be content with letting Sony and Nintendo lead the console market.
    Microsoft made UK's CMA a new suggestion, and both sides agreed to put the court battle on hold while CMA considers that suggestion.

    They haven't gotten UK's approval yet, but since both sides agreed to put the litigation on hold, it looks like they have reached some sort of understanding and Microsoft will be getting UK's approval.
     
  • OG_SolareusOG_Solareus Member RarePosts: 1,041
    plot thickens

    F2P or DIE !
  • VrikaVrika Member LegendaryPosts: 7,973
    edited July 2023
    That's more like grasping at straws. All big businesses try to hire people who already know the regulators or have good reputation with them to do their lobbying.

    There are rules about when an official is not allowed to participate in decision-making because of a conflict of interest, but Sony contracting a company that's past workplace of a CMA director does not run afoul of those laws.
     
  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    Vrika said:
    That's more like grasping at straws. All big businesses try to hire people who already know the regulators or have good reputation with them to do their lobbying.

    There are rules about when an official is not allowed to participate in decision-making because of a conflict of interest, but Sony contracting a company that's past workplace of a CMA director does not run afoul of those laws.
    This is true and that Reddit post is alarmist garbage even going so far as redundantly calling it a "corrupt conflict of interest." 

    However, many officials and judges in similar circumstances will recuse themselves even when technically or legally not required to do so, out of an abundance of caution and respect for public perception of the process and its integrity.

    Legal or not, it doesn't look good when former colleagues at his old firm are representing Sony.
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • AdamantineAdamantine Member RarePosts: 5,093
    I fail to see the loss. >:)
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