Paris MarxDec 8, 2022

Honestly thrilled to see this, especially after the completely disingenuous PR campaign Microsoft launched a few days ago and how susceptible so many people who follow and cover games were to it.

Phil Spencer is a corporate executive, not your gamer buddy. This isn’t just about whether Call of Duty is multiplatform, but Microsoft’s push for consolidation to dominate the subscription future it sees for the industry.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/8/23498224/ftc-microsoft-activision-blizzard-legal-challenge-sues-block

#xbox #microsoft #tech #ftc #antitrust #gaming

The FTC is suing Microsoft to block its Activision Blizzard purchase

The FTC has sued Microsoft in an attempt to keep it from acquiring Activision Blizzard, owners of Call of Duty and King games. The Xbox owner was hoping to purchase the gaming titan for almost $69 billion.

The Verge
Show threadAlan TwigzDec 8, 2022
@parismarx hopefully this also pushes back the plans to bump full price games another 10 bucks or whatever it is
Show threadParis Marx
@Quisley I doubt it. That’s happening regardless. It was interesting that Sony took so much heat for doing it earlier, but it seemed obvious to me the whole industry was going to move in this direction. I think MS has been really effective at turning some games media against Sony and using Spencer to make it seem they’re also not just a ruthlessly capitalist corporation.
Dec 8, 2022 at 9:13pmWeb
Show threadAlan TwigzDec 8, 2022
@parismarx I think they've made some really smart moves with Game Pass and moving their games business away from hardware, but the perception that they're the "more consumer friendly" of the two companies is probably going to disappear once they move past "embrace and extend" into "extinguish"