Maybe you weren’t born when this happened, so it’s understandable that you don’t know
The magazine Business & Economic Research argued that, contrary to Friedman’s concerns, the settlement actually had little effect on Microsoft’s behavior. The fines, restrictions, and monitoring imposed were not enough to prevent it from “abusing its monopolistic power and too little to prevent it from dominating the software and operating system industry.” For that reason, Microsoft remained dominant and monopolistic after the trial, and it continued to stifle competitors and innovative technology.
Regulators don’t exist just to “slow companies down”. They’re there to ensure fairness in the market, and this deal doesn’t make the cloud market unfair in any way. If you think it does, explain how please?
So Sony, nintendo, and Microsoft all have a monopoly on video games in the UK? 😂. They all have over 25% market share.
You’re misunderstanding the description that you read. In the UK if a merger would result in over 25% market share it automatically needs approval by the CMA. That doesn’t mean 25% means it’s a monopoly. If it did that would mean that any merger that gave more than 25% would be flat out denied. Microsoft already has over 25% market share, that’s why it’s being investigated.
more competition for Activision games
What on earth do you even mean by this? Other consoles and streaming services aren’t owed Activision games.
Name call more mate, really making yourself look intelligent.
What on earth do you even mean by this? Other consoles and streaming services aren’t owed Activision games
How to tell me you literally don’t understand what the competition and market authority’s job is
The clue is in the fucking name.
Monopoly power, not a monopoly. JFC
As you saying the US’ attempt to block this was wrong also?
Here’s the CMAs reasoning
Microsoft has a strong position in cloud gaming services and the evidence available to the CMA showed that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service.
Microsoft already accounts for an estimated 60-70% of global cloud gaming services and has other important strengths in cloud gaming from owning Xbox, the leading PC operating system (Windows) and a global cloud computing infrastructure (Azure and Xbox Cloud Gaming).
The deal would reinforce Microsoft’s advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. The evidence available to the CMA indicates that, absent the merger, Activision would start providing games via cloud platforms in the foreseeable future.
You can’t have monopoly power without being a monopoly lol. The clue is in the name ;)
Yes, the FTCs attempt to block it was also wrong - that’s why they were absolutely annihilated in court 😂. Not to mention that the FTC and CMA are seeking to block it for different things, the FTC for console foreclosure and the CMA for cloud gaming foreclosure. The CMA said there is no console SLC concerns while FTC say there are, and the FTC say there are no cloud concerns while the CMA say there are 😂.
There’s also the fact that Activision have said, and their internal documents back it up, that they had no intention of putting their games on any cloud service in the future, which goes in the face of the CMAs concerns in that last paragraph.
The CMA were right to do an investigation - the law literally says that they have to - but their cloud concerns are wrong. 40 other countries approved the merger with zero concerns. The FTC had no cloud concerns. The EC had minor cloud concerns that were alleviated with some small behavioural remedies. The CMA are the outlier here, and they’re wrong and they know it - which is why as soon as the FTC got their arses handed to them they came scurrying back to Microsoft to try and make a deal that would rightly let it pass but would give them a semblance of respect back. The judge even criticised them for the way it looks like they were just hoping the FTC would strike it down and then caved when they didn’t.
The FTC were delaying and delaying the deal with the hope that the EC would deny it. They didn’t. They then hoped that the CMA would, but the CMA seem to have also been bluffing hoping that the FTC would stop it. Their bluff was called and now they’re scrambling to save face. The cloud gaming market is minuscule, and Activision games aren’t going to give Microsoft a monopoly going forward in it.
Microsoft selling the cloud publishing rights to Ubisoft to get this deal through is no concern to them. The cloud rights will now make them money from Ubisoft, for a market that is at best insignificant and at worst going to fail.
What other products do Microsoft have a monopoly on exactly?
Maybe you weren’t born when this happened, so it’s understandable that you don’t know
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.
If a market regulator is slowing these cunts down, they’re doing their job.
That was over 20 years ago….
What do Microsoft have a monopoly on in 2023?
Regulators don’t exist just to “slow companies down”. They’re there to ensure fairness in the market, and this deal doesn’t make the cloud market unfair in any way. If you think it does, explain how please?
Are you being deliberately obtuse?
75% of the desktop market…
https://www.statista.com/statistics/218089/global-market-share-of-windows-7/
You think ms would act differently if they could?
The EU greenlit this, the US tried to block it and lost, the CMA made them sell it to Ubi so that they are not in total control if the price
It’s not that complicated, Activision games won’t be exclusively sold by ms
That’s not a monopoly.
I know what the CMA did. I’m not saying it’s complicated? I’m saying that they’re overstepping their bounds here.
Oh fuck off. In the UK a firm is said to have monopoly power if it has more than 25% of the market share.
They acted to ensure there was more competition for Activision games, if you don’t understand that you’re either a retard or a troll.
Either way, jog on.
So Sony, nintendo, and Microsoft all have a monopoly on video games in the UK? 😂. They all have over 25% market share.
You’re misunderstanding the description that you read. In the UK if a merger would result in over 25% market share it automatically needs approval by the CMA. That doesn’t mean 25% means it’s a monopoly. If it did that would mean that any merger that gave more than 25% would be flat out denied. Microsoft already has over 25% market share, that’s why it’s being investigated.
What on earth do you even mean by this? Other consoles and streaming services aren’t owed Activision games.
Name call more mate, really making yourself look intelligent.
How to tell me you literally don’t understand what the competition and market authority’s job is
The clue is in the fucking name.
Monopoly power, not a monopoly. JFC
As you saying the US’ attempt to block this was wrong also?
Here’s the CMAs reasoning
Kapeesh?
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/microsoft-activision-deal-prevented-to-protect-innovation-and-choice-in-cloud-gaming
You can’t have monopoly power without being a monopoly lol. The clue is in the name ;)
Yes, the FTCs attempt to block it was also wrong - that’s why they were absolutely annihilated in court 😂. Not to mention that the FTC and CMA are seeking to block it for different things, the FTC for console foreclosure and the CMA for cloud gaming foreclosure. The CMA said there is no console SLC concerns while FTC say there are, and the FTC say there are no cloud concerns while the CMA say there are 😂.
There’s also the fact that Activision have said, and their internal documents back it up, that they had no intention of putting their games on any cloud service in the future, which goes in the face of the CMAs concerns in that last paragraph.
The CMA were right to do an investigation - the law literally says that they have to - but their cloud concerns are wrong. 40 other countries approved the merger with zero concerns. The FTC had no cloud concerns. The EC had minor cloud concerns that were alleviated with some small behavioural remedies. The CMA are the outlier here, and they’re wrong and they know it - which is why as soon as the FTC got their arses handed to them they came scurrying back to Microsoft to try and make a deal that would rightly let it pass but would give them a semblance of respect back. The judge even criticised them for the way it looks like they were just hoping the FTC would strike it down and then caved when they didn’t.
The FTC were delaying and delaying the deal with the hope that the EC would deny it. They didn’t. They then hoped that the CMA would, but the CMA seem to have also been bluffing hoping that the FTC would stop it. Their bluff was called and now they’re scrambling to save face. The cloud gaming market is minuscule, and Activision games aren’t going to give Microsoft a monopoly going forward in it.
Microsoft selling the cloud publishing rights to Ubisoft to get this deal through is no concern to them. The cloud rights will now make them money from Ubisoft, for a market that is at best insignificant and at worst going to fail.