shikamaru317 said:
I personally look for the FTC to crumple like a piece of paper now that they no longer have the CMA and EC to back them up, they are the last man standing pretty much and don't have the kind of power that the CMA had, their only tool is suing in court when Judges have already sided with Microsoft once in the class action gamer lawsuit against the ABK deal and legal analysts say they will lose in court, they may try and save face just like the CMA did. As for Microsoft, they may decide that the increased Gamepass subs from a day one Diablo 4 release (likely well over a million new Gamepass subs) are worth more to them in the long run than the day one $70 sales, if they think they can keep most of those new Gamepass subs subbed for years to come. Guess we'll have to wait and see. |
I'm not sure I'm convinced that the FTC particularly care what the CMA or EC decide on the matter. I mean, they would have loved it there was agreement with their position, of course, but all their behavior in recent times proves that they're not exactly shying away from losing battles. Another L to them might very well be worth it as long as it means they're dragging things out, and being a general pain in the ass to the bitter end.
And yea, sure, the Diablo situation could maybe play out that way, but I think if the deal did close in time, it would do so in such a short time frame before the game's release, that there really wouldn't be enough time to properly market the game going into GP day one anyway, and then how many subs are you really gaining from it? More likely that a smaller subset of hardcore gamers that are already subbed, cancel their pre-orders, and then nothing is gained. The broader audience, that you'd want to nudge more toward GP wouldn't likely be influenced with such a last second change. At least that's how I see it.
