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Machiavellian on 11 May 2023
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EpicRandy said:
Machiavellian said:

My question is not what they say, my question is it legal.  In other words, if the rest of the world agree to the deal, how can one country decide for everyone else.  Can that decision be challenged.  I do not have a understanding of UK courts but any country trying to be the global regulator for everyone else is a clear violation as no one needs any country to be a global regulator outside of their own boarders.  Lets say the CMA block the deal because MS does not remove XCloud from other countries outside of the UK, how can the UK enforce such a decision.  I would believe that would be something that can be directly challenged.  The CMA would have to successfully defend such a stance which I believe will be extremely hard to do.  It would be very hard to say that a cloud platform not offered in the UK can somehow effect their market when its tied to a specific product that does not have the product included.

I agree they could come with some other BS but that one I would believe is very tough sell.

They can't block the deals outside of their own border but they can shut MS down from doing business within their border and they can put whatever condition with worldwide implications they want on MS to do business in the UK. The CMA's global stance is not that they want to act as a regulator for all countries but they want the remedies for their findings to not simply be addressed by specific carve out for the UK market.

However, if the condition required by the CMA is judged non-standing within the UK it'll for sure be quashed in appeal. Though In this case, the CMA can argue that even if MS were to leave the cloud gaming market in the UK specifically, their capacities will allow them to still cause an SLC for that market within the UK border.

I know that the UK can block the deal, I am saying that how can they block the deal because of something that does not exist in their boarder.  That would setup a war of attrition where each country can basically do the same and thus when a large UK company wants to purchase a company, in retaliation another country can impose world wide conditions to block the deal.  Also, I would believe that the CMA would need to prove that if cloud services outside of UK boarders has a effect on their own market with this particular deal.  Its one thing to make claims, its another to provide concrete proof which I would expect to be the bar if it goes to CAT.  Like I stated, I have no real clue how UK courts work but if that is not the bar than yeah, the CMA has way to much power and the domino effect may not be what they are looking for.

The second step that MS can do is just comply with all the conditions the CMA stated was lacking in their agreements.  The other thing I wonder but not sure is could MS just leave the console business in the UK.  I know the UK is a sizeable chunk of MS console business but it would be interesting if MS value this deal more than the UK market.  Not sure if that works but MS has expand to more regions then they have before and thus could see making up the difference.