CMA blocks MS /ABK merger (Update: UK gov smears the CMA)

[SvennoJ]

LurkerJ said:

These are massive concessions, and Sunak will "steer" the CMA next to approve the merger. Whether you want the merger to go ahead or not, we can all agree the deal is vastly different from the one we had when MS announced they're acquiring ABK.

CMA's best shot is to get MS to concede further. I personally think they're good concessions. A paradigm shift is going to happen and most of us will be playing games through the cloud eventually, however, the duration the EC agreed to is too short in my opinion as the market won't take off any time soon.

How are these concessions? People still buy the games from MS, MS gets the money. People can stream the games on different streaming services, doesn't cost MS any money. The streaming services will get more traffic. Yet any savvy gamer will eventually move over to xCloud with gamepass ultimate instead of essentially paying twice to play the games. It's exactly why the CMA is blocking the deal. The 'concessions' are nothing but a Trojan horse.

Look up any forecasts and all predict fast growth to 2030, ranging between 26% yoy up to 57% yoy growth. The market is taking off right now. We're just at the early stages of an exponential growth curve. It only seems slow now.