Ukraine The Latest Nation To Pass Xbox's Activision Blizzard Acquisition

The UK f*ing things up as usual, we’ll probably deliberate over this now for months if not years, drag the whole thing out and then say it’s actually good to be passed! Classic UK!

So far, its ONLY the UK that is 'blocking' the deal so I don't think they alone can prevent the deal completing and is more likely to affect the 'service' MS can provide in the UK.

It's much more likely that the deal will 'complete' everywhere. However, in the UK, ABK may well 'exist' as a 'shell' company and provide 'ABK' games in the UK, but maybe cannot bring their games to those Cloud based companies and Nintendo in the UK until they appeal and win their case.

I don't think the CMA can block a US based Company from buying another US based company and if the rest of the world supports the deal going through, that does reflect badly on the UK...

For those folks knocking the UK as a whole and putting us all in the same pot based on the actions of the CMA.

I just wanted to say I can pretty much guarantee we (UK gamers) feel the same too. The actions of this department have done us a disservice regardless of where we are. I expect UK gamers will feel the fallout from this decision (if not overturned) for years to come.

Please just keep that in mind with your comments and try to separate the UK folks from the actions of a government entity that most of us would probably have never heard of until this saga started.

Thank you for reading.

@BBB You should perhaps clarify that to UK Xbox gamers as I can assure you that there are plenty of people in the UK that think the CMA have come to the correct decision.

@Kevw2006 Fair to a point though I suspect gamers on both sides of the fence will see fallout eventually. Lack of investment and so on in the long term increased prices specific to the UK market.

One of the first things specific to Xbox I think the UK will see is a price rise to gamepass before everyone else.

Again this is all assuming the CMA decision stands.

Well, the UK alone certainly cannot stop this deal from going through. So, the UK and Sony can go have a beer and celebrate Sony's antiquated business model of focusing on console sales.

I could just see Russia, next week, saying that they don't accept the deal, because of the fact Microsoft is a puppet of America, and that the Ukraine have no say on the future of gaming in the area.

@Sebatrox you're absolutely correct because, let's face it, 80-90% of the population simply don't care.

Man, the UK has become a real joke of a country.

@ShadowofTwilight30 Games "here." Do you mean in the UK? I hope so because that's all they can do. Lol. Let's not turn this around on Microsoft. Sony's business practices are trash and if you're going to start with the fanboy stuff, take it to another site. But not on an Xbox site. You don't understand how a business runs because you're probably not old enough to understand. And don't bother to respond.

They have their priorities in order. Call of Duty on Game Pass first. WWIII later.

I am just confused by the logic of the CMA's decision. Clearly Microsoft is willing to put its games on other cloud platforms.

All these cloud companies have to do is go to Microsoft and say "let's make a deal" and I am sure Microsoft will make a deal. There is already precedent with the deals it's made with 4 different cloud companies.

My point: I just don't see how the acquisition stifles the ability for another to compete, when Microsoft is willing to add its games to other platforms.

I could see the CMA's point if Microsoft were trying to buy a Cloud Streaming technology company, not a video game publisher.

The real battle with Cloud gaming is streaming quality, platform reliability, and input latency - not the games themselves as that is a matter of licensing.

This deal isn't about the technology behind Azure or buying out Cloud Streaming companies to prevent competing with Xbox Cloud Streaming, but the library of games that Microsoft is clearly willing to provide.

🤷‍♂️

@ValentineMeikin well maybe but then again I don’t know what Russia will do

So UK thinks they're the superior ones in gaming. Absurd.

@GamingFan4Lyf I've said this and I will say it again. CMA is AFRAID Xbox game pass will destroy the gaming innovation. And CMA is scared MS will finally DOMINATE the gaming industry.

@themightyant Why would MS want to invest more in the UK and be stifled by unknowledgeable and self-interested regulators? The CMA may have cost MS billions come this July. They are not the only tech company that will take note and invest elsewhere.

@GamingFan4Lyf The reason is that the CMA's nonsensical argument still hinges on Call of Duty.

They let go of the "console-harm" angle after being led to realize how much money MS would potentially forfeit through exclusivity. However, they still think MS could take CoD and all ABK games exclusive to their XCloud after 10 years. That and XCloud would become so popular that no one could compete. As the CMA alleges, those games are so in demand for streaming that no other cloud gaming service could compete.

I don't think they realize that these are streaming services with low monthly subscription fees. Or that Nvidia's service serse a different purpose from that of Game Pass. Maybe they don't have Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime, Paramount+, Peacock, or Shudder over there.

MS/Xbox putting forth great effort for cloud adoption. The CMA is saying great, you proved it has potential, now we'll hinder you with regulations so that our nation might catch up.

The CMA's verdict feels like them taking a set of flash cards and picking a random one to focus on publically while not changing their actual case one bit since Sony wrote it for them.

The fact they trotted out that the Switch 'cannot support' CoD again, when I played MK11 on Switch and on XBOX. The Switch isn't powerful enough to do 4K at 60 FPS, but it doesn't have a 4K screen.
Seriously, CMA, tell me which broken mess you found that shows the Switch can't run CoD.

And then show me which cloud provider you interviewed that wasn't pretty much crying that their cloud solution failed to be the market leader when the market was saturated by cloud startups.

@theduckofdeath I mean, that's probably correct, but I doubt even Microsoft's lawyers would allow Microsoft to simply hand out "lifetime" commitments to anyone.

Heck, not even an independent Activision would hand out a "lifetime" contract. That's legal suicide!

Perhaps Microsoft should just come out and say "we own ABK but we're letting it maintain independence and stay multi-platform" in the same way Sony said when it acquired Bungie.

Microsoft could have collected all the cash without the hassle.

I kind of surprised ukraine can still working on this matter considering they have better things to do, like aren't they're still at war now

@LordFunkalot Doesn't make any difference. If everywhere else is approving it and the useless UK are not, it'll still go ahead. Pissed me off when Rishi Sunak was commenting on it in the press, WTF would he know about any of it!? #ToryScumOut

As a UK citizen and primarily an Xbox gamer I'm not happy with the CMA ruling at all.

Gamepass has done wonders for me and my family and as a father of two saved me a lot of money over the years since it launched, and having the whole back catalog and future COD titles on gamepass would have benefited me greatly.

So no, it ain't all "us" brits

@wiiware to be fair, a couple months ago Zelensky did a photoshoot for a magazine.

Not surprised tbh, he is a actor/comedian.

To all those on here who say the UK alone can't block this deal and prevent it happening and that Microsoft can push on with it regardless - sorry but the UK can. The deal has to have the approval of the US, the UK and the EU. Research it

@Romans12 the UK can totally block this deal from happening- it has to be approved by the US, UK and the EU

@anoyonmus is that you Vladimir ??

@Alex79uk the UK can block the deal. It has to be approved by the US, UK and the EU

@GamingFan4Lyf I don't think MS should have to agree to any of this. It is in everyone's best interest to kept CoD multi-platform, but that is the end of it. And yes, an 10-year agreement is bad enough. Twenty years or lifetime is absurd. ABK has never agreed to anything like that.

MS isn't paying $70 billion for a corporation that is going to stay independent. That is nuts. Nobody would agree to that. If this deal doesn't get closed by the end of July, MS will be on the hook to ABK for over $3 billion. That was about enough to buy Bungie.

@Green-Bandit joke of a country coming from someone from a country where an 18 year old can buy an assault rifle and ammo an only needs id!??? And then they wonder why schools keep getting shot up!??? Yeah, ok!! 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

@Alex79uk ya wrong. The UK can block it. It needs approval from USA, UK an Europe.

@TheArtfulDodger just maybe it ain’t the gun and it’s the broken homes and mental illness of a person. Not so sure this is a site for talking about that tho. At the end of the day the UK made their choice and many agree with it and many don’t, i don’t.

@Kaloudz I was just about to say it seems like the EU decision is going to weigh more heavily than the UK's decision. I think with all the countries in south America that have approved the deal on top of a major swatch of countries across Europe leaning towards approving the deal I think this is more important than the UK decision. I honestly also believe that the UK may reverse their position down the line especially since we know that decision has been appealed and I suspect their position to change as more companies and countries continue to back the acquisition. Long Live Xbox lol happy gaming ✌️

@Green-Bandit we get broken homes an mental illness here in England. Don’t get people shooting schools up tho!

I’ve been quite apathetic to this whole Activision-Blizzard takeover deal up until now, but after reading all these anti-UK hate comments here and on Reddit I now want the EU to block it. Then the bile and toxic vitriol will be spread out amongst many nations and not just solely focused on mine.

@KingPev lmao no. I have my own reasons to not like Ukrainian government.