By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
 

You’re Transported to Fallout’s World, Would You Rather?

Live in a Vault (Random Selection) 6 85.71%
 
Live on the Surface 1 14.29%
 
Total:7

Idas said:

MLex reports that the lawsuit from gamers has been dismissed and they’ll need to redraft their complaint.

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley raised concerns about a lack of evidence/numbers, precise argument about the harm arising from the deal and the definition of the relevant markets.

---

GAMERS RISE UP!

Feel like this doesn't bode well for the FTC but I don't know. We already knew FTC would be smacked down in court but maybe if FTC sees someone with similar arguments being smacked down it would discourage them but I doubt it.

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 16 March 2023

Around the Network
Ryuu96 said:

Starfield, the highly anticipated space-themed action role-playing game from Bethesda Game Studios, has been classified as "Restricted" in Australia. The game's classification was determined by the Australian Classification Board, which noted that the game features "moderate impact" language and themes, "strong impact" violence, "very mild impact" nudity, and "restricted" interactive drug use.

It is important to note that Australia has some of the strictest video game classification laws in the world, and games that are classified as "Restricted" are not allowed to be sold or rented to minors.

Starfield Receives "Restricted" 18+ Rating in Australia

Skyrim and Fallout 4 were rated 15+

The thing that got it an 18+ was the drug use.

Kind of wish Bethesda would go full CD Projekt and give us sex scenes with nudity in their games, lol. Since it's say there is no sex I guess the "very mild impact" nudity is a brief shot of a guy's ass changing clothes or something. 



Diablo 4 early access beta is preloaded and ready for the Noon EST launch tomorrow!

Last edited by shikamaru317 - on 17 March 2023

Happy Birthday @shikamaru317 



It sounds like Microsoft’s meeting with the CMA went about as well as it could have. Doesn’t mean they will succeed, but the fact that the CMA didn’t immediately dismiss and move on from conversations about behavioral remedies feels significant.

At this point I care less about whether call of duty is third party or not and more about what this deal means for Microsoft’s commitment to the industry. If this deal goes through there can be zero doubt that Microsoft is in it for the long haul and I think that is a good thing



Around the Network

BRUSSELS, March 17 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has offered remedies in an attempt to gain EU antitrust approval for its $69 billion acquisition of Activision (ATVI.O), a European Commission filing showed on Friday.

The EU competition enforcer, which did not provide details in line with its policy, will now seek feedback from rivals and customers before making its decision by May 22.

Microsoft President Brad Smith has said the U.S. software company was prepared to offer rivals licensing deals to ease competition concerns but not to selling Activision's lucrative "Call of Duty" franchise.

The company has in recent weeks signed agreements with three companies to bring "Call of Duty" to their platforms.

"We have stood behind our promise to bring Call of Duty to more gamers on more devices by entering into agreements to bring the game to the Nintendo console and cloud game streaming services offered by Nvidia, Boosteroid, and Ubitus," a spokesperson said.

"We are now backing up that promise with binding commitments to the European Commission, which will ensure that this deal benefits gamers into the future."

The company is likely to win EU clearance for the deal with such licensing deals and other behavioural remedies, sources have told Reuters while the jury is still out on whether the UK competition enforcer will do the same.

Microsoft Offers EU Remedies Seeking OK on Activision Deal | Reuters

Didn't know this would happen but it has been delayed from April 25th to May 22nd because of remedies being offered, Lol. I thought the latest deadline already took possible remedies into account in the schedule. 💀

Means UK is back to being the first to make a decision...

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 17 March 2023

I must say I do find all of these delays, administrative dilly dallying, deliberations, and deliberations on deliberations frustrating. I know this is a large transaction but this has been over a year now since it was announced, and administrative review should not take this long





aTokenYeti said:

Wow, Lol.

Maybe not entirely surprising because Xbox is non-existent in Europe but still I'm glad EU saw through the crap.

Don't think it will matter much since CMA is still concerned about Console Gaming and they've said in their PF that they want the concessions to apply worldwide (which is funny because their PF only focuses on the UK market, if they want to act as a worldwide regulator then they should have worldwide facts too) but it ultimately doesn't matter, Microsoft will apply any UK concessions worldwide either way.

Plus even if there was no contract at all, Microsoft isn't taking CoD off PlayStation.

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 17 March 2023

Idas Said:

New report from MLex:

- Microsoft committed to EU regulators last night to make Activision Blizzard's catalog of games, including Call of Duty, available to rival cloud gaming services according to MLex.

- The offer does not include concessions to ease EU concerns over how the takeover might impact Sony's PlayStation or Google's PC operating system, indicating that the EC has narrowed its objections to the deal to focus on cloud gaming.

- The 10-year remedy proposal follows the template of recent deals announced by Microsoft with cloud gaming providers Nvidia, Boosteroid and Ubitus.

- The EC is consulting market players on Microsoft's cloud gaming offer and now it has until May 22 to issue a final decision.


So, the EC didn't drop the cloud gaming concerns. In fact, those are the main ones right now.

That's very interesting because then the CMA and the EC are more aligned than we thought regarding the theories of harm. The main difference would be that the CMA is also concerned about the console market (it looks like both regulators have dropped the concerns about PC OS).

The timing between the CMA and the EC is again different (now the CMA could be a few weeks ahead).

In any case, if the CMA goes first, April 26th is still the more relevant date.