Microsoft has lost its appeal against a record 497m euro (£343m; $690m) fine imposed by the European Commission in a long-running competition dispute.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6998272.stm

Essentially they abused their position in the European market and now have to pay for it, not game related but its MS related so I posted anyway. 

Ouch, I don't know how much of an impact this will have on their gaming division strategy honestly, but its something to be aware of. If they do actually pay the fine thats another 690m they don't have to provide support to other endeavors and even to MS thats a lot of cash.

Ultimately I don't think this is going to be a big factor in any game development, releases, or quality, but it could impact the business side of game division decisions going forward...well actually all divisions of MS. But I have to believe MS is looking for a way to to recoup some of these losses they have taken this year unexpectedly (ie "warranty extension" and this). The only question is what markets will they focus on to make that recovery?

I somehow doubt it will be gaming, but you never know.

LESSON: Do not mess with the EU.

they are also in appeals on a case in the US, the original ruling called for $1.5 billion... these have got to add up.. wow

Its a big number but still unfortunately just a slap on the wrist. They also recently were hit by a settlement case in Iowa http://www.news.com/2110-1014_3-6177312.html but even both combined is still less than a billion dollars to a company that has many billions banked. The moral of the story its ok to abuse monopoly positions the money you make will be far greater than the punishments that are supposed to dissuade you from doing so in the first place. If our justice department / state govs had any balls all 50 states would have fined them in a similar manner as Iowa did and maybe just maybe businesses would actually have to fear abusing monopoly positions again. Between Att and Microsoft though there is no reason not to abuse your power should you obtain it nobody will stop you!

Sqrl, their shoddy business practices have made them far, far more than $690m and will continue to ensure their future success. It's a tiny price to pay for so ruthlessly ensuring their own future, and has no bearing on their immediate future. It's not going to cost us anything because, really, they already took that money out of our pockets with their grubby little hands already. We've already paid the price for this when buying one of their products.

This really isn't any sum of money that is going to affect anything, it's just a small chip off a very large block.

LOL, that's pocket change

That's what they get for being a naughty company -_-

This kind of puts the $50 million GTA4 episodic content deal into perspective, doesn't it?

Microsoft makes more than one billion dollars per month by the way.