Can anyone else confirm they straight up removed Gamepass Ult from the reward shop? All I see PC Gamepass... no words

Edit: Apparently there was some issue with the store so it should be back. I like my free gamepass

You can currently grab a month of Ubisoft+ for $1. Offer only lasts two weeks so be quick.

The EC published the decision text (256 pages)

Enjoy! :D

Just the index has a lot of potential :p xD

7.3.2. Horizontal non-coordinated effects in the market for development and publishing AAA Role Playing video games

7.3.3. Horizontal non-coordinated effects in the market for AAA Racing and Flying games

7.3.3.1. Microsoft's main games with racing and flying elements are Microsoft Flight Simulator and Forza, while Activision Blizzard's only title in this category is Crash Team Racing

7.3.4. Horizontal non-coordinated effects in the market for AAA Action and Adventure games

7.3.5. Horizontal non-coordinated effects in the market for AAA Shooter (including battle royale) games

Just 3 quick highlights (properly reading the whole thing will take a while):

COD on Switch not before August 2024

Finally, the Commission notes that Microsoft and Nintendo signed the Letter of Intent on [...] 2022 (the "Nintendo LOI") based on which Microsoft has committed to develop and publish future console versions of the Call of Duty title for native execution on the Nintendo platform for at least 10 years from the later of 30 August 2024 and the date of completion of the Transaction.

The next Switch is coming soon according to MS

Given the differences in hardware specifications between Nintendo's current console on the one hand and PlayStation and Xbox current consoles on the other hand, it is unclear whether the format and the quality in which Call of Duty would be made available on Nintendo, and whether it would be comparable to the Call of Duty games published on PlayStation and Xbox today. In fact, Nintendo submitted that "Nintendo expects that Call of Duty on its consoles will reflect the technical features of those consoles."

In that respect, in its SO Response, the Notifying Party submitted that Nintendo is expected to launch soon a new higher specification console that would become an even stronger competitive constraint on PlayStation and Xbox. However, the Commission's market investigation produced no evidence on whether and when Nintendo will launch a next generation console nor whether the specifications of this new hardware would be more or less comparable to the specifications of Sony's and Microsoft's current console generations. In that regard, Nintendo submitted that "The process of constant development work has been affirmed generally by Nintendo on several occasions publicly.

MS/ABK won't have a monopoly of the shooter market

In the worldwide market for development and publishing of AAA shooter console video games, the combined entity's market share exceeds 20% by revenue in 2022 worldwide ([30-40]%). Therefore, the Commission has assessed whether the Transaction gives rise to competition concerns with regard to horizontal non- coordinated effects in the worldwide market for the distribution of AAA shooter console video games.

The Transaction gives rise to a horizontal overlap in this market segment also on the EEA level. In this respect, however, the Parties' activities do not give rise to an affected market because the combined entity's EEA-wide market share remains below 20% by revenue in 2022 ([10-20]%). Therefore, by reason of the Parties' limited market share and the unlikelihood of a significant impediment to competition arising in the narrower plausible EEA-wide market, the Commission finds it unlikely that the Transaction is liable to impede effective competition in the EEA-wide market development and publishing of console shooter video games.

Furthermore, the Transaction also gives rise to horizontal overlaps in the market for the development and publishing of PC shooter video games. In this respect, however, the Parties' activities do not give rise to affected markets under any plausible geographic market definition. The combined entity's market shares are limited andremain below 20% by revenue in 2022 both worldwide ([5-10]%) and in the EEA ([5-10]%).

Source: Idas

The EC also published the final report from the Hearing Officer, with a detailed timeline of the whole process.

For example, there were 3 versions of the commitments offered by MS: the one from March 16th (the original proposal), the one from April 3rd (the second proposal) and the one from April 20th (the final proposal).

The final report from the CMA was published on April 26th and according to MS there was no feedback from the CMA during the last two weeks.

Then, no wonder that MS wasn’t happy with them, it sounds like the last proposal wasn’t properly discussed between both.

Source: Idas

Microsoft Corp. urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday not to revive a bid by video game players to pause its planned $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc., saying that recent contracts with Sony and others confirm that games will not be withheld from other platforms anytime soon.

Microsoft Asks 9th Circ. To Reject Gamers' Activision Appeal - Law360