Canada Joins UK, US in Questioning Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Buyout

Money clearly can't get you everything!

Maybe you can put the TRUTH that no matter what Canada says ,it's past the date to which to do anything about it , and they have no bearing on the takeover anyway

So what does this do for the takeover ? Zero /nothing

Just let them have it at this point. I don't even care anymore.

They announced this during this trial but they aren’t blocking it at all. It’s actually past their deadline and they had let it go with just some concerns. And just would continue to monitor it. This story and the headline are inaccurate.

https://gameranx.com/updates/id/469898/article/canada-had-objections-to-microsoft-activision-deal-but-didnt-act-on-time/

They aren't blocking it, just voicing concern. Good but not significant enough to stop the FTC likely losing this fight.

God I hate the console war bait this site puts out. But then again I keep clicking on it...

Maybe check your facts Push Square. If you follow the news on "The Verge" (which is doing a fantastic reporting job btw) you'll know that they've stated their disapproval of the deal but it's not blocked in any sense of the word at all.

Edit: Nice work on the quick editing of the headline. Much more accurate now 👍

This story would be much more interesting if the Canadian Minister of Mobile Gaming decided to get involved.

Europe starting to stand out for taking the 'Barcelona Bribe'

Microsoft can't help digging holes for itself either. Wildly claiming everyone agrees just because not everyone has acted upon their disapproval 🤦🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️

They can’t block it, unfortunately, as they’ve waited too long.

“Blame Canada, Blame Canadaaaaaa… they’re not even a real country anyway” 🎵

@pip_muzz @Aeula @awp69 Tweaked the headline!

Lawyers are making a killing on this deal (Or almost... Maybe deal)

@ShogunRok Thanks. I'll edit my comment too. Quick response. Nice!

@Martsmall Exactly, but they have been having a rough time reporting news lately. This is just another example, along with potentially causing panic over the FF16 news about overheating and crashing. Extremely small amount of cases, and most of them being people not properly ventilating their PS5's, but that would require them to actually do a bit of extra work before putting the article up.

It's as if they are just trying to get this stuff up as soon as possible without actually doing any research on it first. I'm not going to stop coming here or anything, and I'n not trying to be rude, but it would be nice if they would take a bit of time to make sure what they are reporting before they throw it up.

Edit: Tweaking the headline for this still doesn't change the fact that this article is still false. It literally doesn't matter what Canada says now as they can't do anything.

@Ravix The EU had concerns about the deal too, they just approved it subject to the adhering to the concessions that were offered. Concessions that they are going to monitor to make sure they stick to.

Microsoft have said Canada is too late to object now its just FTC and UK...From what I have been following on the trial the Judge will not grant the injunction and rule in Microsoft favor approving the merger.

Just waiting for my GP to expire. Im never buying another xbox console because they are supporting Scumbag Bobby K....
Morally buying AB was a bad thing to do... I realise morals and business make bad bedfellows...

Also, been revealed the presiding judge son works for Microsoft albeit not in the gaming division... That worked out well didn't it

They need to just let this deal go through now as I don't want the deal to be blocked and then Microsoft go and buy publishers of games I care about on playstation instead, like any from Japan.

These questions need to be asked and unlike the eu that simply rolled over, there are some very not so good things coming out of the emails from Microsoft. Questions now need to be asked why Starfield can’t be out on ps5 where as CoD is.

Questions about Microsoft wanting to out sued Sony out of business etc need to all be weighed up now.

@UltimateOtaku91 Same here, especially with this trial revealing how many companies they were looking into buying before this. While I don't think the deal should be approved, I'd rather they just approved it and moved on since I don't play any Activision/Blizzard games anymore anyways. I'd be fine if I lost games I don't play, but who knows who'd they buy next instead. Any Japanese companies would be extremely difficult though, so just because they thought about buying Square Enix at one point, that doesn't mean they would have been able to.

And so they should.

This deal shouldn’t go ahead and the last few days have proved that with the many revealed emails outing Phil as a liar and a hypocrite.

I've been losing a lot of sleep over how the Terrible Tech company that can't do video gaming Can't seem to acquire the most ethically challenged and morally bankrupt gaming company there is.

I never wanted Microsoft to buy Activision-Blizzard. But at the same time I was meh about it. But with the internal emails suggesting Microsoft should get Sega, Square Enix ect. Just to out spend Sony. It’s obviously that Microsoft is trying to monopolize and drive out Sony or even drive Nintendo out of the market. I’am glad the middle powers such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand and others are voicing their concerns.

Canada had a chance to attempt to block the deal. They instead chose to do nothing and let their own window expire. Its a bit silly of them to try to intervene with another's country process, although it sounds like they were attempting to "correct" Microsoft's claim the deal was only blocked in one country. It's still true, though, because Canada didn't care to act.

@UltimateOtaku91 I’m certain even if this goes through, this won’t be MS last publisher acquisition.

And as a personal opinion, I don’t think another publisher acquisition would put them on a position of becoming dangerously big, so it’s (my opinion) that one more acquisition would only be blocked if we are talking about EA or Take 2.

With the way Microsoft is carrying on just right take it away from them.

Saving the 70B would be more beneficial to Microsoft in my opinion. Get EA at a discount and build the Battlefield brand I say.

@SJR well FTC money got canada to vote against the deal, so clearly money can get you everything

@Tharsman Whilst I kinda agree that this definitely won't be their last big acquisition, but it won't be any time soon and quite possibly not for the rest of this generation.

They will want to lay low for a while and see how their Bethesda and ABK purchases work out and if they have helped moved the needle in terms of market share. I mean after 5 years if they are on top then I can't see them being allowed to solidify their position further by buying more huge publishers.

@Kevw2006 yeah, and the big bribe to invest in Europe from Activision 😁😁

@UltimateOtaku91 they won’t lay low. They will go for the kill ready for the next gen. But now so the exclusives are ready.

Personal they shouldn’t be allowed more major buys after Abk, but regulators rolled over already.

Please report the full facts.

Microsoft better think of a plan b

Doesn’t matter though, eh? They don’t have power over there and in fact waited too long to say anything. This deal closes next week and we fanboys can finally get on with our lives and play some games. And you know what? Our lives will still be the same.

We've heard that the FTC and CMA had extensive discussions before CMA changed course and decided to block. Wouldn't be surprised if the FTC pressured Canada as well.

In the end it's basically just a testimony for the hearing, doesn't pose any real threat to the deal. Canada is essentially saying we had/have concerns but it wasn't enough for Canada to take action on.

@UltimateOtaku91 I think so because even with their current studios we keep hearing about how poorly managed they are. Microsoft may have the money but they need to prove that them owning all of this is not too much for them to handle.

@UltimateOtaku91 No, this deal shouldn't go through and M$ and their bullying tactics need to be out an end to.

@UltimateOtaku91 I actually expect them to do another big move next year, maybe near the end of the year.

If an opportunity like Sega actually opens up, I doubt they will let it slip. Also do think they might try to acquire some minor studios in between now and then, though, since its basically impossible to do those while doing a major deal, and a major deal is way more likely to just take too long to risk delaying more minor acquisitions.

So, maybe start of 2025 we hear about their next big publisher target, and we get a few studios throughout 2024.

Edit: this whole ordeal would had gone through a lot faster if it was not due to CoD. Its not about it being a pulbisher but the impact of such a large IP being under MS control that worried various regulators in different ways. Most markets focused nearly exclusively on its impact to cloud, the FTC about the overall market influence the IP might have.

Cant think of any other company with a large enough IP to cause such a regulatory outcry. Players? Yea players will complain regardless what gets acquired.

@UltimateOtaku91 even if the ABK deal goes through & looking at the documents provided by the FTC triaI I'd guess Microsoft will go after or invest in the Asian market.

Where did you get that judges son information from, that is quite the statement to throw up with no proof sounds like a conspiracy theory.

@Adol-Bannings The Washington post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/29/watchdog-group-calls-judge-recuse-ftc-microsoft-case/?utm_campaign=wp_the_technology_202&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_technology202

Looks legit.

Good. The disastrous ABK acquisition needs to be blocked. Regulators need Microsoft to know acquiring Bethesda was the red line because if it isn't, Microsoft will just keep buying whatever isn't nailed down as they portray themselves as the feisty, mistreated underdog.

Hey Microsoft, now that you also have the us and Canada on your backs and if they deny your acquisition, will you also threaten those countries with not investing in the country or providing services?

Your people need to watch their words and stop being spoilt dicks!

@TheCollector316 regulators are realising they should not have allowed the Bethesda but out because they didn’t ask the right questions. They all assumed the games would remain multiplatform, they didn’t do their due diligence then. They are doing it now…which is good!

Most gamers possibly don’t know what Microsoft is capable of and actually has done in the 80s and 90s for regulators to have strengthened anti monopoly laws!

I hope this saga never ends. So much juicy information! News sites must love this as every article drives tons of interactions.

This hearing isn’t over the acquisition approval. It’s over an injunction to prevent the acquisition from happening before the merits can be tried. Microsoft is trying to circumvent the law and this injunction hearing is to prevent that.

I think the biggest takeaway from this event is that Microsoft is a mega-rich corporation that, outside of monopolies, fails to be the class leader. Search engine? Google over bing. Cloud? AWS over Azure. Gaming? PlayStation over Xbox.

Microsoft’s success has been Windows, which it stole from Apple.

@awp69 Yet another clickbait article by Push Square regarding this whole thing.

I’m honestly very disgusted about how Push Square has handled all the information that has come out from the trial, grim comments have come out from both sides (Sony and Microsoft) however here they’re trying to radicalize it to extremes, as if Microsoft had a personal vendetta against all of Sony’s users when it’s nothing like that, it’s just business and Sony has said and done pretty nasty stuff too.

@IOI You’re reading it, so good job Push Square! Mission accomplished!

@YonkoBuggyTheClown Yeah honestly Pure Xbox hasn’t been better, both sites are trying to radicalize their readers to push more views and while understandable (the sites are also a business) it just creates a toxic community I frankly don’t want to be a part of.

I have to applaud The Verge’s coverage of all this, not only they’ve had all the information available at the moment, they tried to avoid bias to either side as much as possible, just pointing out the information and leaving it to the reader to form an opinion about it (except when the FTC made wild claims that needed to be point out).

@Titntin remember when it comes to the media; everything comes with a bias. Although they have not been as vocal as even Google about it, Amazon is very much against this deal as well. This is how they voice their disapproval. It makes sense too though. For all their talk about “we’ll give anyone who wants a deal for cod a deal for cod” Luna is suspiciously absent from the list of third party cloud people who will get COD. Just like Sony, Amazon hated the thought of Microsoft being around. Anyway, Washington Post is a media outlet owned by them, so of course they’ll write against the deal or anything painting this deal negatively. I would take them with a grain of salt. Better people would be the Wall Street Journal or someone.

I share the notion as some others to let them have ABK at this point for fear of who else they might take that are actually worth something.
After the deal is signed and sealed it's highly unlikely Phil can open daddy Microsoft's chequebook again any time soon because as far as shareholders are concerned they won't want to see the Xbox division as a dead weight that keeps taking and not producing a profit to cover the costs.

That and they would be heavily scrutinized by going after any big guns again so soon then it will definitely reek of anti trust if someone calls them on it.

And some people still can't see when this is over MS won't buy anything big (videogame related) ever again because it's just problems after problems AND it will only get more problematic the more they own lol ...

@YonkoBuggyTheClown
Thanks for the info!
Nothing about this whole sorry affair is easily proved, both sides are very ecconomical with the truth.
But in this case it is recorded that it was discussed prior to the trial, so concerns about the washington post aside, it appears to have merit.
I certainly only offered the link to appease someone suggesting a poster here was making up romours, which is clearly not the case as this story is doing the rounds.

@Gamerintent55

Watchdog group calls on judge to recuse in FTC-Microsoft case

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/29/watchdog-group-calls-judge-recuse-ftc-microsoft-case/

If Microsoft getting Activision and COD prevents them from acquiring anyone else like ZeniMax, I’m all for it. We all know how Microsoft manages its developers. This was quantified by Redfall. That is why PlayStation is the market leader.

Hard stop.

Want to add drama to the drama? The judge who is hearing the Microsoft/FTC injunction hearing…guess where her son works?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/29/watchdog-group-calls-judge-recuse-ftc-microsoft-case/

@Titntin I agree it does, but I’ve now read article, but before out of the entire comment section and I only saw one mention buried in the bottom of a comment , it looked like conspiracy stuff to me, I can admit I was wrong and I apologize.

@lacerz the judge herself mentioned it on the very first day of the pre-trial. Understandably, both parties said they had no issue at all with it. She is the same Judge who presided over the "gamers lawsuit" aswell

@Adol-Bannings No need to appologise mate, theres so much smoke and mirrors on both sides of this debate its impossable for us to know whats right or not.
I was just served another link from my news feed: https://gizmodo.com/watchdog-demands-judge-recuse-microsoft-activision-case-1850591001

It does make me think this could be used by ftc if they dont get the judgement they want, which seems a bit underhand as they didnt object to the disclosure at the start. Mind you, and not suprisingly, all parties involved in this are using underhanded tactics and telling half truths.
I'll be glad when we get back to playing games... no matter how this goes... 😁

@obiwan3001 the FTC just looked bad in court. The Judge was in favor of MS in almost every headline and the FTC just kept fumbling a way to try and prove their case and they just can’t. The last point today in the courts was COD on GP could hurt others and the Judge simply said nothing is stopping others from doing a service with COD and even leaned towards thinking GP was a smart and fair service for players. So again FTC lost in a big way to prove their case. CMA asked for an October hearing and they got denied. They shouldn’t need that much time to prove their case and they looked bad the last time they were in court. The only way to block this deal would be Cloud and no one knows if cloud will be a thing in the future and consoles go the way of DVD’s. The Judge’s final word today to the FTC is we aren’t here to protect Sony, we are here to protect customers and ABK deal is brining COD to more players. It looks like a win in court for MS with concerns about cloud gaming aside, this deal passed in the court of law. The answer should be out next week.anything can happen, but MS don’t need a plan B they are winning in courts.

Microsoft's response to Canada and anyone that dare oppose the deal is nothing short of disgusting. Absolute scum company.

@lacerz from what I saw, she was the one who brought it up. She mentioned it herself, openly, the first day of court.

Microsoft slowly pushing people underwater
"It's good for them! They love it! They're asking for this! Trust us!"

Let it end already!!!

@Jamesblob there was a count taken today and over the 5 day’s in court the FTC mentioned Sony 300 plus times and consumers 11 times. They aren’t there to protect Sony, the judge don’t want to hear that. COD is staying on PS no matter how many times the FTC ask’s that question in a different way. MS is committed to bringing COD to Nintendo and other Cloud services. I am not sure what else more they can say to that question from the FTC. I own all 3 consoles, so this deal mean’s little for me. But for those that are die hard on just one console, i took more interest in this merger case. I find the Bethesda deal a little more rude to players on non Xbox’s and PC’s than this ABK deal. There is not much to this other than MS want’s King for Mobile and to make money from distributing ABK games to other platforms. Granted Blizzard could make a killer new IP down the road and MS could keep it to Xbox and PC. Thats scary for PS fan’s. Sure, but Sony will be more than fine for years to come. I was just reading MS wants Xbox to double its revenue by 2030. At the moment, Sony does $24 Billion, MS does $16 Billion and Switch pulls in $12 billion. Funny for all the noise of Xbox gamers don’t buy games and PS outsells them 2.5-1, the money is closer than one would think. With this ABK deal and Bethesda, it wouldn’t surprise me to see MS go up into the 20 plus billion a year mark and if i have my story straight that is what the CEO of MS at the moment is focusing on. I said that to say if Nintendo on $12 billion is doing that well, Sony will be more than ok with their earnings. I would love to see the day Cloud and PC run the gaming market so we don’t all fight online about which Plastic PC box we hook up to our TV’s, than again gamers would find a way to fight about which TV is better for cloud or which internet provider is best. I learned a lot watching these court cases and found it to be interesting, but there is no winner or loser for me in it. I find the enjoyment of the hobby to be follow the games and play them more than arguing about silly stuff none of us can change or make our lives more happy and fulfilling 😊

@roe SING THE ANTHEM.

@Titntin @YonkoBuggyTheClown Technically WaPo is owned by Bezos, not Amazon itself, but little difference here, in that it, itself isn't an impartial entity.

This takeover is dead in the water

@number1024 Canada did not block the deal, It can Go through there, they would like to block It but they waited too longa and Lost the time windows to do so, every country has it's way of doing It.

@MaikonCSGarcia I never said they did. I said that eu approved it without even asking these basic questions.

All that is coming to light it’s showing that the eu are incompetent and will simply roll over so that they don’t lose a big company.

No due diligence was ever done there and if after all this, the deal is approved, then at least the right questions and Microsoft’s deals are scrutinised!

What Canada is doing is correct and you haven’t read my comment properly!

@number1024 "Hey Microsoft, now that you also have the us and Canada on your backs and if they deny your acquisition, will you also threaten those countries with not investing in the country or providing services?"

They dont have Canada on their backs cause Canada failed to do their job. Unlike the EU that forced Microsoft to make deals with a Nintendo, and a huge numbers of cloud gaming providers.

Edit: BTW Microsoft never threatened to withdraw their services from any country, the plan is to pull ABK out of the UK and move it to the EU and sell ABK games through a third party like some japonese companhias do some times. They sell their games on Japan/Ásia and licenses It to Sony/Nintendo/Square/Bandai to sell It in the rest of the world

@MaikonCSGarcia I highly suggest you go and find new articles about Microsoft threatening investment in the uk.

Also the eu did nothing to make anything happen. They simply capitulated!

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

What’s really interesting here is that the argument of it creating a monopoly, well that model already exists in another market, it’s called ticketmaster and live nation. It has been well reported on different people’s views on what that has done for the market.

However, both Sony and Microsoft have been buying out studios for a while now, but sony and Nintendo tend to invest in those studios differently. There will also be exclusives on each of these consoles (I mean I don’t hear people moaning that Zelda isn’t on the XBSX or PS5) and that will always be the case.

If you want those games, buy that console. I don’t know what damage this purchase will do to the market, however markets also change drastically in the period that MS will want to recoup that cost, so who knows, this could hugely backfire on them too.

Tell the truth there bud JT and the moose knuckle band can't do nothing about it eh

@SJR you clearly only follow pony news since it already known that its to late for canada to do anything since it's past the deadline to even try anything this is clearly just wishful thinking from push dumb

@colonelkilgore ok nice to know we aren't a real country. It only took me many years to get to this pony site to find this information from such a, clearly very intelligent individual such as yourself, oh how my life will change now knowing what I know now.

@PixeledCanuck well after the many years that it took you to find this pony site, now all you need to do is discover South Park and then maybe you’ll get the reference 😎

@Centaured yeah it could backfire, there's actually a good chance it will, Microsoft don't have a very strong history of success from buying out games companies. Most of them just seem to fade away.
It's a backfire that they can afford I guess though, even if it happened. Windows' uncontested dominance gives them money to throw around.
What the world needs is a strong competitor to windows, that'd be fun.

@number1024 "Hey Microsoft, now that you also have the us and Canada on your backs and if they deny your acquisition, will you also threaten those countries with not investing in the country or providing services?"

The problem with your statement is not investments, cuz that was said about the UK, but rather "providing services" that I don't remember hearing even once being said by Microsoft, I remember seeing third parties debating the matter.

@Balosi it’s called Apple, but the PC market outside of business is dying. The consumer market is owned by iPad’s, Chromebooks and surface has a small fraction of that. I’ve been on Mac for so long I remember when we were less than 2% of the market, climbed up to 14%. Sure small number compared to MS’s 80% market share. But Apple has owned MS in every other trending market. PC sales are down year over year for a long while. Apple was the only PC brand showing growth for a while. Think even that slowed down. However i do have and love Xbox. It’s the only Microsoft product i own. But i love my PS5 also. Wasn’t a huge fan of PS4 tho. I would love to see more games come to the Mac and apple is slowing trying but it will never be the place to game i don’t believe. Was nice to see Kojima announce death stranding for Mac at the apple show. He loves apple and said the hardware and tools is really good to work on. RE8 on Mac runs really well as well. 😊

@MaikonCSGarcia you really didn’t bother reading the statements that Microsoft said. No point talking to you!

So has Microsoft threatened to leave US and Canada markets like have for the UK?

@Balosi Microsoft buying companies is like when Vince mcmahon bought WCW AND ECW and other promotions look what happened to them all they've all faded away just like ones Microsoft will buy and I own a xbox and playstation