• PerfectedInterest@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The title is a little misleading. This ruling is only regarding the preliminary injunction. There is still an ongoing suit with the FTC and we will need to wait for that to be resolved. However, knowing how these things go, Microsoft will make a ton of promises about creating jobs, keeping their content available to everyone, and agreeing to play fair. They will get approval and immediately turn around and terminate a ton of jobs, start making things exclusive, and backtrack on their promises. Then…nothing will happen. There will be no repercussions. Rinse and repeat.

      • chungusam0ngus@iusearchlinux.fyi
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        1 year ago

        contemporary democrats are not any better, they make hella frequent concessions to anti-competitive business practices under the guise of licensing or stimulus

            • thoro@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              The fact their Overton windows aren’t so skewed that a center right party is considered “the left”?

            • _wintermute@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              US politics is a few hundred years old whereas European and other’s are thousands of years old? The rest of the world’s political perspective has a bit more precedent than ours.

        • Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Far from perfect? Yes. Bad? Very often. Not any better than Republicans when it comes to corporate interests? Absolutely not.

      • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        The guys who claim capitalism works because a free market will create better things through competition. Guess they weren’t so much for the competition stuff and just became puppets for corporations. We also have it completely legal to openly bribe politicians which makes zero fucking sense, except we call it lobbying so it somehow becomes okay.

        • pazukaza@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Only pure liberals think leaving the free market by itself with minimal regulation is a good thing. Capital attracts capital and becomes basically a snowball.

          But is the solution a market controlled by a centralized entity? You just pointed out politicians can also be corrupted. So… Giving more power to an entity that can be corrupted is the solution?

          The problem is corruption. Any system you can propose can be fucked up by corruption. The justice system, politicians and government can be corrupted under any system because they are human.

          If I’m wrong, just propose any system and I’ll tell you how it crumbles because of corruption.

          • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Ideally that’s where democracy is supposed to kick in, to stomp out corruption when it occurs. Obviously that’s not what’s happening and we don’t have a democracy anyways. Especially with bribing being completely legal.

        • fruitywelsh@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Only thing worse than free market capitalism is state sponsored. Decades of the fed flooding the big banks with capital to loan, taxes taken from everyone but the largest corps, and regulatory capture (see copy right for this topic), and we get corporations that demand difficult anti trust actions just to slow down.

      • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I think they’re still there, just haven’t been trotted out in recent history. And mergers keep getting approved.

    • imaBEES@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      It’s my understanding that Microsoft can now close the deal and acquire ABK before the FTC trial would even take place (as soon as July 18th, though unlikely given the new UK CMA negotiations). What happens to the suit if the merger is already complete?

      • Defaced@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Probably a fine that’s simply justified as “operating costs”. It’s actually kinda bullshit, they shouldn’t be allowed to buy up all the NA competition. Next is probably EA. Thankfully Sony saw this coming and started investing in new studios and IP.

        • 佐藤カズマ@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          How does one bring Teddy Roosevelt back from the grave? I’m uh…asking for a friend? Yeah. Let’s go with that.

        • imaBEES@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I’d be pretty surprised if MS is allowed to purchase another huge publisher. Zenimax was pretty small, but ABK is huge. But who knows at this point…

  • thoro@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Capital wins again. If only the FTC didn’t sit on its ass for the last 40 years, maybe such market consolidation wouldn’t be allowed and normalized.

    Also shout-out to this comm. The Beehaw community seems delighted. You can sometimes really tell which instances skew toward leftists vs liberals

    • HaiZhung@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      The fact that it was challenged at all is a huge step in the right direction. Couple of years ago, the FTC wouldn’t even bat an eye with these mergers. The new chair, Lina Khan seems to be determined to reduce the power of monopolies.

      Which is a good thing, if this isn’t obvious.

      The problem lies with the complete out of touch judges now.

      • fruitywelsh@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Oh no, those judged seem touched. Maybe the need another sponsored yaht trip to clear their heads.

    • UnverifiedAPK@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      If only the FTC didn’t sit on its ass for the last 40 years

      That’s more on the money than you think. Microsoft mostly won because the FTC didn’t clamp down on Sony being anticompetitive which “forced” Microsoft to make these acquisitions. This situation is bad, but the alternative with Sony exclusivity deals all over the place was worse.

      • thoro@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        No I think this is worse. It’s not a deal. These are all first party studios now essentially, through nothing but the purchasing power of a trillion dollar company. They will and can be as locked as Microsoft prefers.

        There were 360 deals before PS4/PS5 deals. There were Xbox One deals even during Sony dominance, like Tomb Raider. Sony is just one player, but the others are not angels.

        Nothing here stops those deals from continuing.

        What has happened is that the second or third largest third party publisher’s studios and “IP” now belong to a first party publisher.

        And I predict more acquisitions, and thus consolidation, will come from Sony.

  • Bobert@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    You can “rah rah” about exclusivity all day long. What needs to be acknowledged is how huge this is in terms of developers under one company. As far as I can think of, there’s never been anything like it. I don’t think it’s gonna be for the better, I mean this is the same company responsible for this

    • MrFlamey@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      GFWL was one of the worst attempts to compete with Steam I’ve ever seen, and also one of the worst software experiences I’ve ever had. I never got more than an hour into GTA4 because of it and how intolerant of bullshit software I am. Valve should have put their feet down back then and said “no secondary launcher dependencies”.

      Game pass is OK in terms of value if you play lots of games, but the software it uses is not great, despite being leagues better than GFWL. Windows also sucks, but I’m stuck with it due to work :/

      • Redrum714@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        This is one of the rare occasions where it’s a good thing. Activision has been a shit show for years. I have a lot more trust in Microsoft to run things.

        • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Market share being consolidated among fewer companies in an industry is always bad for the consumers in that industry. If Activision was meant to go down, it should be through the mechanism of competition, not acquisition.

    • AnAnxiousCorgi@lemmy.reddeth.com
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      1 year ago

      The enemy of my enemy is not my friend applies here I think. Kotick sucks and needs to be gone and I’m glad for that but I don’t think this solution to that is much better long term for gamers and consumers.

    • BubsyFanboy@szmer.info
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      1 year ago

      I personally just feel indifferent to the merger. Definitely won’t say Microsoft has been the most guilty of game exclusivity, considering Sony have been pushing timed exclusivity on PlayStation. Nintendo doesn’t have take that scrutiny only because their main catalouge are 1st party games.

      That said, it sucks that the only way to make someone as repulsively negligent to workers as Kotick depart is by letting him have a golden parachute to another company. Also, I just don’t trust Microsoft to handle ABK that well. So far their strategy has been to just scoop up studios and expect them to make smash hits without really helping them innovate. It’s that kind of attitude that left Rare a mere shadow of its former self.

  • Eggyhead@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I might be a little more upset if I could remember the last activision blizzard game I felt was worth playing.

    • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Overwatch 1 the first two years or so was pretty sick. Was definitely one of the most funs I’ve played. Now it’s just skin shop with some maps to dress up in.

    • _spiffy@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Horse armor angst be damned. Diablo 4 was decently fun. But the grind is slooooow.

  • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Seems like a foregone conclusion now that this will go through. Unless I’m mistaken, the only speed bump left is the UK CMA appeal in two weeks.

    • Boogiepop@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The worst bit is, it seems like the CMA will negotiate with them. This might be well and truly over.

      • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t go through. I stand to benefit from the acquisition as a GP subscriber but I’m definitely worried about corporate consolidation. At least Bobby Kotick will go away

        • RedAggroBest@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          This is one of the few corporate mergers I think could make things better because Blizzard is just THAT bad.

          Plus this means the SC themed Halo clone I’ve wanted for the better part of 2 decades could be a thing.

          • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah I think I agree with you on the merger, but I’m of the wait and see mindset more than picking a side.

            Still waiting on SC Ghost? I remember buying game magazines and being so hyped for it to come out.

            • Aasikki@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Yeah, I’m a tiny bit optimistic, but only time will tell how this ends up going. Also Activision really is such a fucked up state right now, that if they end up making it even worse, so what? I really only see two options: eather it will be better or continue be shit like they now are.

          • SolOrion@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Plus this means the SC themed Halo clone I’ve wanted for the better part of 2 decades could be a thing.

            Dear god I will lose my shit.

    • hypelightfly@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The CMA appeal is covered in the article. Both parties have requested to delay the appeal so they can negotiate modifying the merger to address CMA concerns about cloud gaming. It’s going through.

  • smellythief@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    It went through because the judge thought that the only relevant thing was where CoD would be, and that 10yrs = forever. Neither is true though.

    • fruitywelsh@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I mean fuck them both at this point. I’m tired of AAA shitty games, and platform lockins.

  • Saneless@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m all for this merger. Maybe Microsoft can use it as leverage against Sony to avoid needless exclusivity

      • TheGod@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Microsoft gaming strategy does benefit gamers. Which counteracts the problem of losing a competitor.

        Microsoft doesnt care about profits on single products much compared to the grand strategy they follow. For example AoE4 and all the aoe franchise doesnt really give a lot of profit Microsoft would care about, yet they keep investing and updating it bc they like it and like the strategic benefit.

        Not caring as strictly about profit means you dont get as many greedy microtransactions and more balanced approaches. The game pass is also a really cheap deal if you play variety

        • thoro@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          No subscription deal is ever a good financial decision long term and companies know that. Most people keep their subscriptions running and will end up paying more long term.

          That’s not even getting into the “ownership” vs renting aspect.

          • IcySyndicate@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Netflix used to be cheap and look where we are now. Give it a few years and Game pass will suffer the same fate.

            • thoro@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              They already have cut benefits and raised prices. I expect more price raises in the coming years

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              1 year ago

              They went up from $15 to $17 or so; the small single digit shift does kind of make me think they’ve eyed the big “2-0” as the price point where a lot of people might reconsider.

              I’m certainly considering the benefit of it each month, and so far I’ve consciously decided to keep it. If it’s ever poor value like Netflix, it’s going (that said, Netflix has introduced enough shows that I have weighed whether to resubscribe)

                • Katana314@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Oh, I guess I was referring to Ultimate. I don’t think regular one-system pricing has gone up yet, it’s still $10. I’m just going for Ultimate for other perks.

            • thoro@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Grandmas, young people. Most people are notoriously far from financially savvy. Many overpay or fail to track their subscriptions.. If you didn’t know at least one person paying for a subscription they didn’t actually use in the last month I would be surprised.

              You have to keep up with your gaming habits long term to keep up with the subscription costs, basically never replay anything (especially not long RPGs that can take you months to finish), not waste subscription time playing non-GamePass games, or remember to cancel. And Microsoft, like most subscription services, are banking on people maintaining subscriptions they aren’t fully using.

      • Saneless@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        My other stance is that Activision is so shitty to its workers and customers, let’s give someone else a try

      • Shadow@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Why? Microsoft hasnt been pushing for it like Sony has. Sony has been crazy anti competitive.

          • Derproid@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Well yeah, that’s the point. Maybe Sony will stop forcing exclusivity and sign a deal with MS to get Bethesda games back on PS and FF and others on Xbox.

            • Eggyhead@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              That would be fantastic, but it’s really hard for me to have that much faith in corporations. We’ll see though. I was really looking forward to seeing Bethesda make another RPG for PSVR, but I’m sure the odds of that happening now are less than zero thanks to Microsoft.

                • Eggyhead@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  Comments like this kind of suck when you no longer have the kind of money to “just get a pc”.

                • Derproid@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  It does matter though. Can’t play a lot of old PS exclusives on PC. That is starting to change for some new games though.

            • fruitywelsh@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Great a duoloply again. That’s what I want instead of independent game studios just making games and letting people play them on what ever platform they want.

        • imaBEES@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Part of the problem is that since Sony is so heavily invested in exclusives, if Microsoft doesn’t have any exclusives and all their games also come out of Playstation, that’s incentive for people to purchase a PS5 over an Xbox because they know they’ll get all of the games that both Sony and Microsoft make. So even if Microsoft doesn’t want to do exclusives, they kind of have to if they want to keep people from just purchasing their competitor’s console.

          • Saneless@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Or they can be like me, just get a PC and if you really need a console, a cheap Xbox.

            PC gaming is a plus and game pass is a plus. Sony will eventually give me their games. I’ve bought multiples of every Sony system in the US since the PS1 through the 4. But I’m done with them

    • DMmeYourNudes@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I would love to hear how this could possibly make exclusivity better. The only possible change is that all of the ABK library becomes Xbox/PC exclusive.

    • fruitywelsh@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      If Microsoft could stop pushing for needless expense exclusivety you would have a stronger point. DX needs to die so gaming can move on, for example.