"Oh no... anyway." - UK

Yeah, well... that would explain things a bit, the last console I owned was Super Nintendo circa 1992. Was tempted by Play Station a couple of times, but never actually bought one. Mobile? Lulz. I have literally never played any kind of game on my phone. I have played free versions of Sudoku and KenKen on my wifi only tablet. Cloud gaming? Hell, I play nearly all of my Steam games offline.

Mr. Tact wrote on Jun 5, 2023, 10:22:
While I would agree in general that competition is good for consumers, in this particular case I don't see there being much of an impact. But hey, I might be wrong. Your Bethesda example would at least partially support your hypothesis. *shrug*

I'm not worried about it. Whatever.

This is a huge deal and that's why Microsoft is fighting so hard for it. They will be able to leverage this for a foot into the mobile space where they failed several times, they want to launch a mobile app store. They will be able to leverage all of the IP for cloud gaming efforts and in the console space where they are losing to Sony and Nintendo. They will use it to bolster Gamepass and attempt to buy or kill off competitive efforts. Then if they are successful in minimizing the competition they will raise prices. You don't spend this kind of money to be nice to people and give them cheap games via Gamepass forever. Microsoft has been here before in other markets, it's straight out of their playbook.

This doesn't keep me up at night but I'm aware of it and definitely not a fan of the deal.

While I would agree in general that competition is good for consumers, in this particular case I don't see there being much of an impact. But hey, I might be wrong. Your Bethesda example would at least partially support your hypothesis. *shrug*

I'm not worried about it. Whatever.

Mr. Tact wrote on Jun 4, 2023, 12:50:
I honestly don't understand why any of you care if these companies merge. If they don't it simply means there will be two multi-billion dollar corporations who don't see any of you has anything but a money cow which they want to milk -- instead of one. Do you really think it will stifle competition in any meaningful way? Personally, I don't see it.

A company with a long history of antitrust behavior goes on a buying spree, gobbling up several companies responsible for some of the largest franchises in the industry. How could they ever stifle competition indeed

Corporation consolidation on this level is almost never good for consumers as a whole. Consumers benefit from market competition. Two multi billion dollar corporations is better than one. More products, more platforms, more companies. Microsoft failing to compete and just buying up the industry instead is not going to end well. Microsoft talked up a pretty good PR game before they bought Bethesda then immediately started making its newer games platform exclusive which makes sense, you don't spend billions to give consumers good value and prop up your competitors. You do it for a return on your investment.

US gaming market was something like $100 billion in 2022, UK was something like $8 billion and bigger than any European country.
(this varies depending on a number of things including how one defines it, so these are very rough numbers based on a brief google search I did).

No way is any publicly traded company going to pull out of a market that size, the stockholders would come down on them.

Edit: Sad part is, worldwide video game market was like $200 billion, whereas global mobile games market is at $290 billion. This is based on what google's AI told me when I was searching, not going to do additional research on it.

I honestly don't understand why any of you care if these companies merge. If they don't it simply means there will be two multi-billion dollar corporations who don't see any of you has anything but a money cow which they want to milk -- instead of one. Do you really think it will stifle competition in any meaningful way? Personally, I don't see it.

Jonjonz wrote on Jun 4, 2023, 06:25:
The old tired worn out UK still thinks it is relevant.

That seems excessively bitter and not at all logical. Care to expound?

BicycleRepairMan wrote on Jun 4, 2023, 04:13:
So , no more Windows pc's in the UK? that would be.. interesting 😂

I doubt very much that it will ever come to that but that is how actual competition is born. I'd actually love to see this.

RogueSix wrote on Jun 4, 2023, 03:35:

jdreyer wrote on Jun 3, 2023, 14:41:
I'm glad someone is taking a stand against the continual industry consolidation.

^ this

The UK are among the few who have their heads screwed on straight. Brexit was also a very smart move (long term) instead of clinging to the sinking ship that is the European Union which is going to drown in its own shit (long term).

If Microsoft-Actiblizz decide to pout, take their ball and go home, I think the UK will live. Fuck Microsoft.

No they don't. They want Microsoft/Acitivion to be able to STREAM onto devices via other services. I can agree on exclusicvitity type deals, loot boxes etc, but this one is a little stupid.

Honestly I hope Microsoft goes through with it's bluff.

jdreyer wrote on Jun 3, 2023, 14:41:
I'm glad someone is taking a stand against the continual industry consolidation.

Same - not excited about the Msft-ActiBlizz Mega-Merger either. This is literally another megacorps in the making.

The old tired worn out UK still thinks it is relevant.

that would be hilarious. It is also an unsettling precident for other countries and large corporations: we want to do this, block us and we will cripple X service.

So , no more Windows pc's in the UK? that would be.. interesting 😂

jdreyer wrote on Jun 3, 2023, 14:41:
I'm glad someone is taking a stand against the continual industry consolidation.

^ this

The UK are among the few who have their heads screwed on straight. Brexit was also a very smart move (long term) instead of clinging to the sinking ship that is the European Union which is going to drown in its own shit (long term).

If Microsoft-Actiblizz decide to pout, take their ball and go home, I think the UK will live. Fuck Microsoft.

Wait, wouldn't Microsoft have to leave the UK market too?

Quboid wrote on Jun 3, 2023, 16:36:
The Conservatives will cave, because money.

I suspect you're right. But a shame, when big tech is proving across the board to be bad actors with an increasingly right-wing bent. How on earth MS+AV = more competition I will never understand. On the face of it that's bollocks. Sigh.

This comment was edited on Jun 3, 2023, 19:35.

The Conservatives will cave, because money.

I'd say the chance of this happening is 0%. But the threat is cute anyway.

I'm glad someone is taking a stand against the continual industry consolidation.