Why Do People View the MS Acquisition of ABK as a "Good Thing?"

[EpicRandy]

NintendoPie said:

EpicRandy said:

there was a very similar thread late last year so I'll post here one of my answers which is relevant here:

I believe this deal is good for

• Microsoft/Xbox
• Activision Blizzard
• Workers at Activision Blizzard
• Union advocate
• Gamepass
• Gamapass Users
• Switch and future next Nintendo system owner
• Steam User
• Anyone who wants the Acti-Blizz management/work culture to change
• Anyone who hopes for a possibility of Activision Blizzard studios to even consider being creative again
• PlayStation Plus user (Only if Sony accepts the deal and benefits from CoD on PlayStation Plus day 1 as Ms offered)

before I comment on anything else, do you also support Disney and NBC's acquisitions or do you see these as a different case? or, in addition, any other oligopoly. 

I have no information on the Disney acquisition and did not make any research so hard to say if I'm against it or for it. Every acquisition must be looked at through the lens of their impact in the markets they evolve in. Nothing more nothing less. Disney already boasts a dominant position in its market way more so than MS has with Xbox so it's likely to be a substantially different case. Also, I don't know enough about NBC to see what they actually bring to Disney so hard to say which markets are actually impacted. But in creative sectors, it will always be harder to demonstrate anti-competitive behavior because every product is unique and does not really impact one another directly.

Also, there's nothing in the ABK merger that reinforces a supposed oligopoly status of the video game market quite the opposite in fact by stimulating competition it actually provides a harder path for such to exist.

It is also worth noting that the ABK transaction is viewed as a vertical merger, not a horizontal one which means the number of actors in the industry doesn't decrease.

Last edited by EpicRandy - on 11 July 2023