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

[RolStoppable]

NintendoPie said:

i think, for once, you are more optimistic than me.

if you look at the other industries, i think you'd find that these acquisitions have already gone too far. the FTC doesn't seem to act in defense of the consumer or the equal market, this is even reflected in their own case against this very acquisition of ABK. i think that the judge allowing this to go through will mean that it will be easier for other companies to do the very same, i.e. Sony or Nintendo acquiring other large developers (regardless of how realistic Nintendo shelling out huge bucks for lackluster companies is, just a for-instance.) this could very well happen on the basis of stare decisis.

i think i mostly agree and understand your points made but, i don't think they will completely hold considering the slippery slope this decision has allowed. yes, i agree that consumers did not buy into XB's anti-consumer idiocies in the XBO generation thankfully, whether their decision to go for PS4 was correct or not. however, that is a different case where the consumers actually had the choice. the consumer does not have the choice in whether companies are allowed to swallow up other companies, that's where the government and law step in and as we see here, to no avail.

my fear also isn't that microsoft will gobble up more companies but that the industry in general will become more fragmented with everyone gobbling up each other. that's what happened in the entertainment industry, a sort of retaliation. i've seen several people in here say that's fear mongering but, it's only businesses business-ing. that type of behavior is nothing new.

i also do agree that the gaming industry does seem to somehow be able to reinvent itself better than other industries over time. if MS acquiring studios and somehow degrading them to the point of irrelevancy continues to happen, i do believe other actors will step in and take the place of those IPs. though, that will only become more and more difficult to replicate the more everything is consolidated.

i'm also not siding with sony on any basis whatsoever, i thought i clarified that enough in my OP. though, idk if that comment was directed at me or just in general!

It was about ten years ago that Microsoft bought the Minecraft IP. Back then I thought the logical plan was to make it exclusive to Xbox. When Microsoft kept porting to more platforms, I thought their endgame was to have the first Minecraft everywhere in order to create much greater demand for an Xbox-exclusive sequel. This didn't happen either. Instead Minecraft itself got more and more updates that were available everywhere, plus spinoffs that went everywhere too.

Microsoft's strategy for consoles clearly differs from what Sony and Nintendo would have done with a monster IP like Minecraft, if they had gotten such a hold of it. But I don't think it's so much because Microsoft has a broader vision than console hardware, rather it's because they have opposing forces within the company and that results in no clear direction and the lack of consistence in their decision-making for their gaming department (and the sorry state of their first party output that has lasted for many years). The necessary contracts to even make the A-B acquisition happen secure CoD for at least ten years on PS anyway.

Making predictions for two generations ahead is incredibly tough, but right now it's looking unlikely that Microsoft will return to a strategy of selling as many Xboxes as possible. They used to do this and it came at the expense of the PC, but since subscriptions are basically the only thing that made Microsoft consistently money in gaming, they'll stick to that. So once the ten year CoD deal expires, it's improbable that CoD will be taken off PS. At that point it's more probable that Sony will have to suck it up in a deal where Microsoft either can plant their own subscription service on PS or get a cut from Sony's PS+ money. But all this is speculation. It may as well amount to not more than gamers having to use Xbox Live accounts to be able to play CoD online, without having to Microsoft a cent.

Sony does not have the money lying around to keep retaliating against Microsoft, so chances are high that Sony won't seek out a grand acquisition in the first place. Nevermind all the hurdles Microsoft already has to take with A-B. So it's not reasonable to fear that this entire affair will spiral out of control where everything gets consolidated, both because of the legality and the money. Nintendo won't acquire any entire publisher anyway. Any player from China, namely Tencent, will be out of luck by virtue of the West tightening things up against Chinese companies in general. So while I do think that China has the money, I doubt that they'll be allowed to buy.

My comment about taking sides was a general one.