Microsoft To Sell Off Activision Cloud Gaming Rights To Ubisoft in Bid for UK Approval (theverge.com) 7
Microsoft is restructuring its proposed Activision Blizzard deal to transfer cloud gaming rights for current and new Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft. From a report: The transfer of rights is designed to appease regulators in the UK that are concerned about the impact Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion deal will have on cloud gaming competition. The restructured deal has triggered a new regulatory investigation in the UK that could last until October 18th. "To address the concerns about the impact of the proposed acquisition on cloud game streaming raised by the UK Competition and Markets Authority, we are restructuring the transaction to acquire a narrower set of rights," says Microsoft president Brad Smith. "This includes executing an agreementâeffective at the closing of our merger that transfersâthe cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment SA, a leading global game publisher. The rights will be in perpetuity." This restructured deal means that if Microsoft does close its proposed acquisition, then it will not be able to release Activision Blizzard games exclusively on Xbox Cloud Gaming.
T-Mobile made a similar concession (Score:2, Interesting)
In order to appease regulators on this side of the pond, when T-Mobile gobbled up Sprint, they agreed to sell off Sprint's Boost Mobile prepaid brand to Dish Network. Boost's new owners have basically been running the brand's reputation into the ground. [bbb.org]
Mergers almost always end badly for consumers. You end up with less competition and the acquired companies end up a shell of their former selves after the inevitable layoffs and corporate restructuring by their new parent company. But hey, a few stockholde
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It would certainly be interesting to create a regulation whereby, say, all M&A over $1B in value was prohibited. It would fundamentally change the dynamics of markets.
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You probably want to tag that figure to some percentage of GDP or the like. Inflation is going to make that $1B completely unworkable eventually, and then you can expect someone to inflate that number to some ridiculous value that renders it meaningless, if they don't rescind such a law entirely.
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Mergers almost always end badly for consumers.
No they don't. In fact they almost always end well. You just don't hear about the literal thousands of them which happen every year because they aren't news worthy and don't go wrong either. *Big* mergers end badly for consumers.
So what? (Score:2)
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Cloud streaming gaming is already dead, that's like saying you won't sell record players anymore. Sure it might come back if magically the internet no long has latency though.
Huh? There was well over $2bn in revenue generated by cloud gaming in the past year. It has literally nothing in common with a record, that would imply it was once insanely popular format that was the only way people consumed media that is now relegated to a few hipsters. Cloud gaming is still in its infancy, and it's on the rise.
And despite what you seem to think, most games aren't competitive FPSes that require low latency to play.
Just because Google pulled out doesn't make it dead. There are plenty of ve