Microsoft declared war for the next console gaming generation during the 2019 Games award when they announce the Xbox Series X. But, it wasn't until the Bethesda acquisition announcement that Sony and the gaming industry really took notice of Microsoft and start seeing them as a true contender. Microsoft's latest announcement was the MEGATON bomb drop on Sony gaming division headquarter. Just remains to be seen what will happen after the dust settles and the fallout of this major blow.

It will probably go through, being the third largest is far from having a monopoly. However the regulators could drag it out and yes Kotick will remain in his seat until the deal goes through.

So yes, it's bad news if you want Kotick out fast.

Sure. I'm not sure the really angry talent will be willing to wait it out though.

What Dulfite said. How long are you willing to put up with a boss that simply doesn't care anymore. He didn't care before, now it really doesn't matter anymore what he does. He's going home with his millions regardless. The longer the process takes, the more damage he can do :(

FTC doesn't do shit these days.  They allowed monopolies to form in all industries.  You would need another Theodore Roosevelt to bust the trust up and that isn't happening considering all parties are basically shit these days in USA.  Shout out to Theodore for being one of that last good republicans to hold office.  There is a current bill going through congress addressing Amazon, Google, Apple, etc but it will probably won't do shit.  All talk and no teeth.

Might be a little more difficult for Meta... As they -only- usually have 50-60~ billion dollars cash in the war chest... Which makes buying a $70 billion dollar company a little more difficult as shareholders would be looking at the bottom line and need to sign off on it as they would need to go into debt and/or dilute shares.

Microsoft on the other hand usually sits on $130-$140 billion in cash... So for them it's just using spare cash sitting in the bank and thus do not need to do a share exchange/share dilute/financing some loans.
Just a straight payment.

Same thing for Amazon as their war-chest is $90 Billion, $70 billion is a fair whack.


Apple on the other hand is sitting on a $200 billion dollar stockpile, Alphabet $165 billion so a purchase for them of this size wouldn't be much of an issue.

Apple and Alphabet is Microsoft's main competitors, rather than the other companies... As those two engage Microsoft in every market almost.

Keep in mind the Steam Deck runs SteamOS and not Windows... You *could* possible run xCloud... Or just Install Windows and grab the Gamepass/Xbox app.

As a PC gamer I'm worried, maybe more than console gamers. Google and Apple should worry too, not just Sony. Sony will be hit, but it's not MS' main target: Spencer and Nadella finally show they understood (they understood it immediately, but they didn't show it until they were ready) what Ballmer and Mattrick didn't, that the true important target is the mobile market (gaming is important, and potentially very lucrative, but mobile, including its gaming part, brings money and a LOT of power) and that MS' most dangerous competitor isn't Sony, Google and Apple are.

As PC gamer you should be happy it.

Why worried and why are you saying that console gamer are worried too. Can you ellaborate on that?

I'm a PC and console gamer and I'm anything but worried (well, obviously if you are only playing on Sony's console, yah, those are worried and for good reason, no debate there, but you said you are PC gamer, so I assume that's not the case).

GamePass is probably the best thing that happen to PC Gamers since a while. Diablo, Starcraft, COD, Overwatch are all going to be day one on GamePass and in the same ecosystem than other games. As a console gamer I also have more hope to finally have a true "play anywhere" for games like Diablo 4 or Overwatch 2.

I get that some people are worried for different reason, but you are talking like this is a general consensus. I do not think so :) And looking at the reaction on Reddit and other places (even Blizzard specific ones, people are happy about this in general). Microsoft is a way better place to be for those games/franchises/studios than the current standalone Activision/Blizzard. 

Heck, I also hope Microsoft will split Blizzard from Activision and bring it right under the Xbox Studios at the same level than Bethesda and the other studios instead of being a subsidiary of Activision.

So why are you worried?

Imma just put this here

PC main advantages are wide freedom of HW, SW and services choice, OS only is ruled  by a near-monopoly (Office is the strongest office suite, but many users can replace it with alternatives), but MS always tried to extend its power on the platform and to push users from periodic licence purchases, typically together with new HW or major upgrades, to a lifetime rent.
That the owner of the only monopoly on PC tries to expand its power too much in other parts of PC market isn't good for competition, even less that it tries to turn Game Pass into a de facto mandatory service. Yes, Activision acquisition can be very good for Game Pass users, it isn't for everybody else. Neither it will be for GP users, if MS will raise the fee.

It isn't for 3rd parties willing to be on GP either, unless MS grants that their share of the fees won't be touched by the overwhelming increase of 1st party games weight Bethesda and Activision brought.