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WoodenPints on 20 July 2023
Ryuu96 said:

I wonder if Microsoft is struggling to find a buyer or do the terms for the deal.

This is what it sounds like right now based on rumours.

Option 1 - Microsoft sells the Activision licenses to another company (rumoured to be EE, owned by BT who are a massive telecommunications company). EE company receives the licenses but can set the terms themselves, a worse deal for consumers and cloud companies in the UK. I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia and others say this deal is worse than Microsoft's original deal but accept it because it applies to UK only.

Option 2 - Microsoft sells the licenses to another company, but they have to abide by the European Commission rules that Microsoft applied to themselves, those rules are that the licenses are free, now I question what the incentive is for another company to accept this deal, how would they make money? Microsoft would have to give them some extra financial incentives.

All this messing around for a deal which may end up being far worse than the EU deal but at least it isn't Microsoft setting the prices!

I don't see any of the options you listed as been good for competition or for the consumers and MS would be better off just closing their Cloud Gaming operations in the UK. Because MS selling the Activision rights to Kevin Bacon isn't going to be good for anyone it will either kill off the nascent market they are worried about or it will allow the likes of Amazon to dominate the space without any big competition.

..but when the CMA accept a deal that is worse for competition and customers than the deal they initially blocked can it be undone later?



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Ryuu96 on 20 July 2023
Machiavellian said:
Ryuu96 said:

Not selling the IP. It sounds like based on rumours they're either offloading xCloud to someone else to manage in the UK or licenses to Activision content for cloud services, both of these specific to the UK, so basically another company other than Microsoft would decide what cloud services a title such as Call of Duty would launch on and set the terms for that.

You know this just seems pointless.  All the CMA needs to do is exactly what the EU did which is to give every cloud provider a blank license to COD or even if they want to go a step better other ABK titles.  Having to divest that part of the business just seems like more wasted effort then something as simple and easy as the EU solution.  I guess because the EU came to that decision and they got all pissy about it, I am thinking pride and ego will not allow them to just do the same deal, especially after they showed their asses right after the EU decision.

It absolutely is pointless but the CMA needs their "win" which hurts consumers.

The issue is, the European deal which Microsoft did which was a free license for Activision content to any Cloud Gaming Service company which asks for it, Microsoft took it upon themselves to apply that worldwide and the EU license was already for all Activision-Blizzard content so UK accepting one for UK only would be pointless, because it technically already exists, Lmao.

It's so stupid, the CMA is going to hurt consumers and Cloud companies.

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 20 July 2023

G2ThaUNiT on 20 July 2023
Angelus said:
gtotheunit91 said:

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. It’s an anthology film by the Coen Brothers but I don’t remember which story in the movie was the one with this scene lol REALLY good movie though! 

They're sisters, you sexist bastard!

Aren't you thinking of the Wachowski's?



aTokenYeti on 20 July 2023

This all comes back to the fact that I think the CMA was completely sure the EU was going to block and it caught with their pants down, and then hoped the FTC would bail them out



Angelus on 20 July 2023
gtotheunit91 said:
Angelus said:

They're sisters, you sexist bastard!

Aren't you thinking of the Wachowski's?

Oh yea lmao



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shikamaru317 on 20 July 2023

Kind of amazing how badly Blizzard has been torpedoing their own games here this summer between Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4. First it was them announcing that their PvE plans for Overwatch 2 were being majorly scaled back, PvE of course being the main reason for Overwatch 2 to exist a sequel instead of just updates for Overwatch 1. Now, they have managed to torpedo Diablo 4, with what is one of the worst patches ever released for a game, filled with poorly thought out rebalancing that hurts the 99% of normal players while not touching the 1% of players at the top using the very best builds. I've seen former Blizzard devs calling them out for how bad the patch is, including Mark Kern (lead producer on Diablo 2 and lead director on Vanilla WoW), and the game's user review average has plummeted to 2.7/10 on PC and 2.5/10 on PS5, down from apparently about 5/10 before the new patch. Xbox sure does have their work cut out for them repairing both Activision and Blizzard after the acquisition closes.



Angelus on 20 July 2023
shikamaru317 said:

Kind of amazing how badly Blizzard has been torpedoing their own games here this summer between Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4. First it was them announcing that their PvE plans for Overwatch 2 were being majorly scaled back, PvE of course being the main reason for Overwatch 2 to exist a sequel instead of just updates for Overwatch 1. Now, they have managed to torpedo Diablo 4, with what is one of the worst patches ever released for a game, filled with poorly thought out rebalancing that hurts the 99% of normal players while not touching the 1% of players at the top using the very best builds. I've seen former Blizzard devs calling them out for how bad the patch is, including Mark Kern (lead producer on Diablo 2 and lead director on Vanilla WoW), and the game's user review average has plummeted to 2.7/10 on PC and 2.5/10 on PS5, down from apparently about 5/10 before the new patch. Xbox sure does have their work cut out for them repairing both Activision and Blizzard after the acquisition closes.

Not that I disagree that this particular patch is bad, it most certainly is, but when the user metascore was already at 5/10...it doesn't really say much about the consumers' ability to give devs good feedback.



Machiavellian on 20 July 2023
Ryuu96 said:
Machiavellian said:

You know this just seems pointless.  All the CMA needs to do is exactly what the EU did which is to give every cloud provider a blank license to COD or even if they want to go a step better other ABK titles.  Having to divest that part of the business just seems like more wasted effort then something as simple and easy as the EU solution.  I guess because the EU came to that decision and they got all pissy about it, I am thinking pride and ego will not allow them to just do the same deal, especially after they showed their asses right after the EU decision.

It absolutely is pointless but the CMA needs their "win" which hurts consumers.

The issue is, the European deal which Microsoft did which was a free license for Activision content to any Cloud Gaming Service company which asks for it, Microsoft took it upon themselves to apply that worldwide and the EU license was already for all Activision-Blizzard content so UK accepting one for UK only would be pointless, because it technically already exists, Lmao.

It's so stupid, the CMA is going to hurt consumers and Cloud companies.

I am thinking that MS and their lawyers sitting in a room trying to come up with some type of divesture that someone would want after they already have the EU deal on the books.  I am believing its taking this long as they are just sitting there trying to come up with a plan that isn't like the EU deal but essentially is like the EU deal just changed enough so the CMA can claim victory without everyone saying, its the EU deal in a more complex stupid manner.

I am actually now in agreement that MS should just drop all XCloud from the UK market period and just be done with it.  Why try to think up a deal that is better than just giving everyone a free license to ABK games for the Cloud. 



Ryuu96 on 20 July 2023

This patch does sound bad and I see all the complaints. They should revert back to an earlier state.

Grummz is a moron though. Just wanted to get that in there too, Lol.

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 20 July 2023

Machiavellian on 20 July 2023
Angelus said:
shikamaru317 said:

Kind of amazing how badly Blizzard has been torpedoing their own games here this summer between Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4. First it was them announcing that their PvE plans for Overwatch 2 were being majorly scaled back, PvE of course being the main reason for Overwatch 2 to exist a sequel instead of just updates for Overwatch 1. Now, they have managed to torpedo Diablo 4, with what is one of the worst patches ever released for a game, filled with poorly thought out rebalancing that hurts the 99% of normal players while not touching the 1% of players at the top using the very best builds. I've seen former Blizzard devs calling them out for how bad the patch is, including Mark Kern (lead producer on Diablo 2 and lead director on Vanilla WoW), and the game's user review average has plummeted to 2.7/10 on PC and 2.5/10 on PS5, down from apparently about 5/10 before the new patch. Xbox sure does have their work cut out for them repairing both Activision and Blizzard after the acquisition closes.

Not that I disagree that this particular patch is bad, it most certainly is, but when the user metascore was already at 5/10...it doesn't really say much about the consumers' ability to give devs good feedback.

Really Blizzard should know that no one likes all the hard work they put into a character to be nerfed in the name of balance.  This was never going to be something that was going to go well for the game and if by balance they make playing the game unfun well, they will have totally missed the mark.  I am guessing that the Devs do not understand how their game can be a chore to play when you do not get that progress feeling when you level up to a point where you can blow away whole mobs.  Yeah, hopefully if there is a mass exodus from the game, this will be the lessons Blizzard learns because POE is around the corner and a lot of Diablo players might just migrate over to that game.