Microsoft Wins Court Case Against FTC, Allowing It to Move Forward with $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Deal

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Who has the better lawyers, Microsoft or the FTC? The former, it seems, as U.S. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has denied the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction, effectively allowing the Xbox and Windows maker to move forward with its planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $69 billion. The FTC has until July 14 to appeal Corley's decision, but Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which objected against the deal in April, is now saying that it's willing to listen to Microsoft's proposals to resolve antitrust concerns.

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I wonder how much MS is being forced to spend to allow them to do the acquisition?
 
Ironically I'd say the greatest value, for now, that came of the FTC hearings is the number of details for the various deals and practices that Sony and MS have going on, or done in the recent past. We covered a chunk of it but even then there was more than what we posted about. I almost did a roundup story about it but it would be a challenge to gather all the info since not all of it is labeled/titled/tagged across the internet as being related to these hearings.
 
Peter_Brosdahl said:
Ironically I'd say the greatest value, for now, that came of the FTC hearings is the number of details for the various deals and practices that Sony and MS have going on, or done in the recent past. We covered a chunk of it but even then there was more than what we posted about. I almost did a roundup story about it but it would be a challenge to gather all the info since not all of it is labeled/titled/tagged across the internet as being related to these hearings.
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That would be interesting to see. "Microsoft and Sony's backroom dealings."
 
Am I the only one glad Microsoft won this? Now I think they just need to convince the UK?
 
LeRoy_Blanchard said:
Am I the only one glad Microsoft won this? Now I think they just need to convince the UK?
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I don't know if this will be good or bad. I mean Activision Blizzard is probably the worst company in gaming currently, so new leadership might do a very much needed cleaning of the house. But at the same time consolidating two of the biggest players under one umbrella greatly increases their monopoly which has a potential to be very bad for the customer.
 
MadMummy76 said:
I don't know if this will be good or bad. I mean Activision Blizzard is probably the worst company in gaming currently, so new leadership might do a very much needed cleaning of the house. But at the same time consolidating two of the biggest players under one umbrella greatly increases their monopoly which has a potential to be very bad for the customer.
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Sums up my thoughts on it as well
 
I don't think Microsoft has a monopoly on anything in the gaming industry. Other then their Windows operating system being the go to OS for PC gaming.

But as long as they release all their "Xbox" exclusive titles on PC as well I am good with it.
 
LeRoy_Blanchard said:
I don't think Microsoft has a monopoly on anything in the gaming industry. Other then their Windows operating system being the go to OS for PC gaming.

But as long as they release all their "Xbox" exclusive titles on PC as well I am good with it.
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For example if two studios under them want to make similar games it definitely won't be allowed. So far the only big success from microsoft's recent push into gaming was FS2020, so it's not like everything they touch turns to gold. I can't even be cautiously optimistic. I predict 3-4 years of turmoil then a parting of ways.
 
I have a hard time imagining a monopoly on development of video games.

I can see on distribution of games, but so long as MS allows alternate storefronts on Windows, I don't see an issue. It's not like they are walling off Windows the same way they do the Console.
 
MadMummy76 said:
For example if two studios under them want to make similar games it definitely won't be allowed. So far the only big success from microsoft's recent push into gaming was FS2020, so it's not like everything they touch turns to gold. I can't even be cautiously optimistic. I predict 3-4 years of turmoil then a parting of ways.
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I don't know how Microsoft would handle "similar" games. I think that needs defining a little more. Like, make another racing game? I don't see why not unless it's a clone of Forza.

I also don't know how much "say-so" Microsoft gives in what games studios can or can not make. I've never seen Bethesda complain about "We can't do that because Microsoft wont allows us" except for the "Make a Playstation version" where Microsoft has already said "nope".

Well that's just the gaming industry as a whole. No one has a 100% success rate unless they made one game that was super successful and then never made another game after that. haha
 
Now that MS has a couple companies under them that make what are otherwise considered good MMO's...

I wonder if we will see some new MMO come from this.
 
LeRoy_Blanchard said:
I don't know how Microsoft would handle "similar" games. I think that needs defining a little more. Like, make another racing game? I don't see why not unless it's a clone of Forza.
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For example another fantasy RPG like TES? Would they allow in-house competition? I'm not sure about that. They are more likely to "typecast" each studio under their control into doing the same thing over and over again.
LeRoy_Blanchard said:
I also don't know how much "say-so" Microsoft gives in what games studios can or can not make. I've never seen Bethesda complain about "We can't do that because Microsoft wont allows us" except for the "Make a Playstation version" where Microsoft has already said "nope".
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Even if there is no specific NDA covering this I doubt Bethesda would want to anger MS by badmouthing them publicly.
LeRoy_Blanchard said:
Well that's just the gaming industry as a whole. No one has a 100% success rate unless they made one game that was super successful and then never made another game after that. haha
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C'mon they have a ton of studios already and the only big success they can show for it is barely even a game. This is closer to a 0% track record than a 100% one.
 
Grimlakin said:
Now that MS has a couple companies under them that make what are otherwise considered good MMO's...

I wonder if we will see some new MMO come from this.
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MS was originally involved in Vanguard back in the mid-00's, and pulled out of it halfway through and SoE picked it up to publish - part of the reason people think it was such a buggy mess (the other part probably being brad mcqaids cocaine habit)

I'd love to see some more investment into MMOs as they are my favorite genre but I think that ship has sailed, at least as it existed 20 years ago.
 
Brian_B said:
MS was originally involved in Vanguard back in the mid-00's, and pulled out of it halfway through and SoE picked it up to publish - part of the reason people think it was such a buggy mess (the other part probably being brad mcqaids cocaine habit)

I'd love to see some more investment into MMOs as they are my favorite genre but I think that ship has sailed, at least as it existed 20 years ago.
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I'm just thinking with such luminaries of the MMO arena as World of Warcraft, and Bethesda's Elder Scrolls Online. (Though today if you google Bethesda MMO all you get are starfield articles. lol)
 
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