CAT is a judicial body, I assume they mostly exist to make sure that CMA isn't breaking the law which they often don't, even if their interpretation is garbage.

CAT will sometimes tell CMA that they did something wrong in their process, CMA will simply fix it and then block it again, Lol.

So...Yeah...Aside from making sure they follow the laws, fairly toothless.

They'll have a backup plan, even if it's just reverting back to the plan post-Zenimax. Activision-Blizzard was a lucky opportunity that fell into their lap, it wasn't sought out by them, Phil's long term plan sell which he gave Satya didn't involve Activision-Blizzard and they can still be very competitive with XGS + Zenimax.

I think they'll be annoyed but ultimately shrug it off and yeah, I think they'll likely buy some more individual studios again, I also think they'll still seek a Mobile publisher, according to the CMA, they already tried once before already, they want in on the Mobile market in a larger way.

They will continue to appeal though because they wouldn't be doing their due diligence if they didn't, as many are saying, this is bigger than Xbox now, it affects Microsoft as a whole, this block could have negative ramifications for Microsoft as a whole if CMA can block deals based on speculation, nascent markets and block deals because Microsoft is big in Windows and Azure, Lol. Pretty much hurts Microsoft's ability to make acquisitions as a whole company, not just Xbox.

Activision-Blizzard will get $3bn from Microsoft for the breakup, Bobby will remain a rich man, I anticipate mass layoffs and a stock drop, I think they'll recover but overtime I expect a heavy loss of talent due to the toxic culture that Bobby has created at ABK, a lot of ABK employees seemed cautiously optimistic about joining Microsoft but now they're back stuck with that asshole.

Doubt it will be for long, I think ABK will sell to someone else, likely candidates Imho are either Saudi's PIF or Tencent.

It's increasingly obvious that CMA wanted to block this deal from day one because of how ridiculous these arguments are, I think they dropped the Console argument only because it was so incredibly flawed and Microsoft pointed it out and they didn't want it used against them but the Cloud argument is just as bad.

We recognise that we cannot predict with any certainty how exactly the market might evolve absent the Merger (or if the Merger is allowed to proceed on the basis of the Microsoft Cloud Remedy). Neither, in our view, can the Parties or third parties.

So let me get this straight, nobody can predict how the Cloud market will evolve in the future, not even CMA itself, but you're blocking the deal based on how the Cloud market may evolve in the future...? Lol.

We have concluded in Chapter 7 that Microsoft would not have the incentive to foreclose rival console gaming services in the UK. However, this is not determinative of whether Microsoft has a commercial incentive to develop and publish native CoD titles for Nintendo. This would involve substantial costs that would need to be recouped through additional sales of native versions of CoD on Nintendo. In addition, placing valuable CoD content on Nintendo would in principle increase diversion away from Xbox and towards Nintendo. While this effect may be relatively limited given our findings in Chapter 7 that Nintendo competes less closely with Xbox, making CoD on Nintendo could make it a closer competitor to Xbox, which we consider would not be in Microsoft's interest. The Parties have not provided us with convincing evidence of the expected costs, revenues and profitability that might inform an assessment of Microsoft's commercial incentives in this respect.

All irrelevant since Microsoft literally has a written contract with Nintendo for CoD on Nintendo Switch...Unless CMA is claiming to know the contract better than what Nintendo themselves literally signed. Microsoft may not have financial incentive (although I disagree with that, I think CoD on Switch would be profitable) but it's all irrelevant, they have a contract with Nintendo, they are putting CoD on Switch whether they have financial incentive or not, they can't get out of it.

The agreement has a ten-year term. We consider that account must be made for the inherent uncertainty over the scale of the benefits over time. The likelihood of the assumptions remaining constant will decrease over time, and the changing nature of the console market makes it harder to make any predictions about how a particular retail product (for example, CoD [REDACTED]) might evolve, or how customer behaviour might develop. As such, it is not a reasonable assumption that any annual benefit would remain constant over the term of the agreement. Instead, in our view the benefits are likely to decline significantly (and certainly at a rate greater than the 'risk-free' rate used in Microsoft's NPV calculation) over time, reducing our confidence that they can be expected to be realised.

More speculation that is hard to predict but you'll do it anyway to justify a block.

I've been thinking lately...

Bethesda should acquire Double Eleven and turn them into Bethesda UK.

Should expand into other locations. They certainly need it.

Maryland, Montreal, Texas, Texas and UK.

Take a deep breath Ryuu lol.

Huh? I've had the thought for a while but was reminded of it right now because Double Eleven is currently in a football tournament with a bunch of other UK studios

It's mostly cause they're fairly large (300 employees), a private company and now announced as a co-development partner on Fallout 76. Bethesda DOES need to expand Imho and they just recently acquired a studio in Turkey for Zenimax but I think Bethesda Game Studios can and should expand more because of the demands of Elder Scrolls, Fallout and now Starfield.

Double Eleven haven't done many original IPs on their only, mostly co-development work so it's not like they'd be taking them away from anything from the usual, having a Bethesda UK would be pretty cool, especially if it gets us a Fallout in London made by Double Eleven.

Rockstar has locations in Scotland, England, America, Canada, India. Etc. Don't know why we can't have more for Bethesda! Skyim sales justify it, as do Fallout, Bethesda isn't large enough to juggle Starfield, Elder Scrolls and Fallout without us waiting like 10 years between each dang entry, Lol.

Double Eleven consistently rated as a good place to work at too.

The more I read the more annoyed I get about this decision.

In a few ways, Sega feels like a match for what Microsoft is looking for, but on a much smaller scale, on a cheaper scale though and still a net positive.

Blizzard is PC focused and Sega Europe is PC focused, they are both strong players in the PC market, albeit Sega is a much smaller player than Blizzard but Football Manager, Total War are still big IPs and Relic is vital for Age of Empires as they'll likely be the developers for Age of Empires mainline entries going forward.

King and Rovio are both Mobile developers with strong backgrounds, okay, King does crap all over Rovio financially but Microsoft seems desperate for an entry into the Mobile market and their options are limited with everything being snatched up. Take-Two/Zynga are clearly out of the question. Rovio would be...a small start, Lol. Angry Birds isn't popular anymore but the experience that Rovio has may be more important than Angry Birds.

Part of the reason why Sega acquired Rovio is due to their Mobile experience, they believe they can help bring other Sega titles to Mobile, Xbox could use them for the same purposes, in some cases, the experience is just as important, Microsoft has almost no studios with Mobile experience aside from Alpha Dogs and a few smaller teams inside of Bethesda Game Studios.

Microsoft and Sega have a much better working relationship than Microsoft and Activision did, Sega is a heavy supporter of Game Pass, a partner with Azure, used Microsoft to help bring some titles to the West and maybe Microsoft could even find a use for Japanese Arcade stores by leveraging xCloud in them, arcade machines with xCloud.

Sonic can fill the platform/family friendly void that Crash/Spyro could have done. No substitute for CoD but a Japanese push with Persona/Yakuza.

But JFC...The fact that I can't tell whether Sonic would be deemed an essential IP for Cloud Gaming anymore is crazy, Lol. All logic in me says no it wouldn't and it should pass regulation easily but we're dealing with irrational regulators so I genuinely can't say for sure...Sonic is a well known IP but is it even a 10m+ seller per entry? Pretty sure it isn't. Surely Sonic wouldn't cause a block, or would it, Lol.

Welcome to the thread as well, Lol.

Welcome to VGChartz! 

Microsoft is appealing the deal. While the odds the CMA ruling is overturned are very low, it's not impossible. What we do know is this will drag on for many more months.