Insane to block a deal based on crystal ball predictions of a future market, by that logic, you can block pretty much every acquisition in a nascent market, Lol. Far too much power, CAT HAS to side against CMA on this. The maths simply doesn't support them either.
Kind of wish Microsoft dropped it but at the same time I 100% understand why they're fighting it, the conclusion is completely irrational and it sets a very bad precedent which could also hurt Microsoft in other acquisitions. Not to mention, it's worth it financially, Lol.
Not just for Microsoft though, blocking an acquisition based on speculation for future markets which might not even exist is a very dangerous precedent to set for the tech industry and M&A's and in fact damaging to certain nascent markets which grow via acquisitions.
Look at the points for blocking it.
• It did not sufficiently cover different cloud gaming service business models, including multigame subscription services.
• It was not sufficiently open to providers who might wish to offer versions of games on PC operating systems other than Windows.
• It would standardise the terms and conditions on which games are available, as opposed to them being determined by the dynamism and creativity of competition in the market, as would be expected in the absence of the merger.
#2 and #3 is crazy for future acquisitions, if they let those stand then this will expand beyond just Cloud Gaming and hurt Microsoft's ability to make acquisitions anywhere. Microsoft pretty much has to try to fight this until the end, I doubt even Phil can convince them out of this now if he wanted to, Lol.
Bobby waiting for that $3bn to enter his pockets though, Lol.
Meh. At least Starfield is on the horizon, Lol. But we won't see Microsoft doing any major money-hats or acquisitions until this is done.
