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@Widey85 Thanks for that, I just scanned it but it is there, in the legal mumbo jumbo terminology.
As for what they do next I don't always rely on what influencers say, because laws differ between countries. I think the appeal may have a chance, but also that it'll only go back to the CMA for review again.

@Widey85 Is it written into the terms though? I googled it and could not actually find that anywhere as a black and white fact, so I'm not sure if it is a requirement.
Do you have a link to where it was officially stated it is a requirement?

@Kaloudz Ah that means nothing, ignore it, that's when they have a bunch of MPs sat round a table grilling who ever they have in, can be anyone and they still lie, Boris did, several company executives have, they are usually televised and boring. Still maybe something will come out of it? It's basically a bunch of lying scum lying to each other for a half a day. Seen several of them and all a waste of time.

@Kaloudz I thought it was a condition of the merger for ALL regulators to pass it, but I googled it and couldn't find anything on it? I only ever heard that from You Tubers so it may well be total tosh.
I wouldn't pay much attention to what the PM says as he has to remain independent, plus he's a liar.
When you say the CMA is in court, in what aspect? It's not one of these councils of MP's grilling someone that's streamed on the TV? Like Boris over Party Gate etc?

Interesting first paragraph, they are going to appeal so we will have to see how it goes I guess. But good to hear we could still get the games on Game Pass, if the EU blocked the deal it would have been stone dead! And Phil's business plans right up the split lol.

@Martsmall Now it's part of the job requirements. My grandad worked for the council back in the day and they used to do of for free, now the elected scum earn more then the PM.

@Stamnoso You don't understand politics. On both sides. Brexit was never going to work purely because the politicians would never have allowed it to.

@NEStalgia Please don't give them ideas! Not sending the CMA a photo of my tackle that's for sure!

@Kaloudz "Besides, even if they stand firm, MS will just release ABK on Game Pass in the UK but prevent cloud play. I can live with that."

Is that possible though? I'd be happy with that but can MS just ignore the main complaint in the UK when the entire deal has been blocked?

@Kaloudz Nnnooooo save your sanity!

@Wheatly That maybe but they will also stop consumer choice and innovation in the games market as they have effectively handed the 'high end' UK console market to Sony, with their decision, now the EU has approved it, the UK will be the only country in the planet with a different Xbox structure and NO Activision Blizzard games on Game Pass!!

@abe_hikura I recall that but don't think anyone understand it fully, either they don't think it's in their remit, or they can't be bothered to do their jobs which isn't much of a reason..
Still I think MS did not offer the same concessions the EU got, it forced the automatic free licensing apparently into MS, so we will be screwed unless the appeal is successful. And for that to happen MS has to successfully argue the CMA were incompetent, which in law is very difficult I believe.

"were the same remedies proposed to the UK authority as well?"

EXACTLY what I want to know... if they were I want to know why the CMA rejected them, if not then MS deserved to be blocked by the CMA and can offer the UK CMA the exact same concessions to get the deal approved surely.

@Grumblevolcano I consider 10 years in gaming to be very long actually. Will be keen to see what happens with the appeal.

@Tharsman That’s what I don’t get? Reading that what complain’t did the CMA have, or, why did Microsoft not offer those concessions to the CMA and UK market? It changes the optics somewhat…..

@Moonglow but if they close the deal that soon, won’t they then have to change their UK business structure, licenses, legal entities (as some were saying they’d have to set up independent offices) etc etc which can take months, as they will have closed a deal banned in the UK.

@Kaloudz The CAT is no guarantee though, they may not even approve an appeal yet. A lot of see how it goes.

However I think the UK market ‘may’ be dead to Xbox, not many will hang around if every other market on the planet gets COD in Game Pass and they don’t, Sony will be able to hoover up what’s left. But as I said a lot of see how it goes.

"A free license to consumers in the EEA that would allow them to stream, via any cloud game streaming services of their choice, all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games for which they have a license."
"A corresponding free license to cloud game streaming service providers to allow EEA-based gamers to stream any Activision Blizzard's PC and console games."

Ok so now I REALLY want to know the CMAs argument in full against this, or were MS not offering them the same terms? Hmm I may go and read that 400 page report from them. I want COD on Game Pass damn it.

But… isn’t the deal still going to be delayed for months and months due to the CMA’s blocks and the appeal process? And the FTC suing?

Interesting….. I do hope the decision was because they have enough concessions and it wasn’t to stick it to the UK, knowing Brussels.
Wonder how the CMA appeal will go now? Being in Britain that’s all I care about lol, unless I move to the EU of course.

I shall look forward to the evidence given by Microsoft and the CMA compared to the EU, if we ever get to see it.

@NEStalgia I'll be fascinated to see who gobbles up ABK if Microsoft's deal fails, will they increase the price or lower it for example? Not many consoles use have that money.
I checked as in the back of my mind I'm sure the date wasn't today and it is t, the EU in March set back its date to next Monday. For some reason the media has forgotten about that and is claiming a decision is 'likely' today, or in other words they are covering themselves in case the EU decides to change its mind.

I'd like MS to just concentrate on its existing studios, ditch this hands off approach they've adopted. And get a new Gears game out!

FYI everyone, no guarantee you will get a ruling from the EU this week, they did push back their date for a final decision in March to May 22nd which is next Monday. But for some reason the media are reporting a decision is 'likely' to be announced today, so not a certainty.

@NEStalgia Well the first part of your comment makes sense. I just read others seeing it differently.
As for buying all the competition, I guess I meant the ones that matter, not many games bigger than COD, maybe Fortnite and PUBG which are in mobile anyway I think?
But COD is a massive game in players sales and monetary terms, and gives Microsoft a huge advantage. Still you could argue that's on mobile too, even if it's by fermium games.
I don't get your last comment is implying the EU will approve the deal, otherwise all those 10 year deals are invalid I guess.
I am pretty confident the CMA won't change their rulling, but if the EU passes it maybe it'll impact the appeal against them.

@Kaloudz Well I won't be as I do not know what the EU will do, my argument has been about the CMA? No where have I stated the EU 'will' block this deal so no humble pie for me.

@NEStalgia Analysts from what I’ve actually call the merger as both vertical and horizontal, because they will use the games to boost cloud gaming and grow that market, the CMA would of had experts and analysts as well as Microsoft provide information, business plans and future growth targets, which we won’t see, and that most likely where the complaint came from I’d imagine. Millions of documents were submitted right? You cannot grow a market that’s young by buying all the resources up locking out your competitors in the process either. I doubt very much that the CMA will change their mind, I was under the impression that would kill the deal stone dead, but as per usual, don’t pay attention to You Tubers as Googling it I could not find one single verified reference confirming test three deal needs all regulators to approve it for it to go through, that idea seems to only live in the minds of tech You Tubers.
Monday will be a very interesting day….

@gmbbr Ok, looking at the posts you are the only one using insults I think, and now your claiming I'm accusing people of terrorism? Added to my ignore list... you haven't added anything to the conversation, just singled myself and another poster out and made no sense.

The new Star Wars Jedi Survivor, it's drawn me in, runs super smooth in quality mode too on Series X and my 4K OLED.

@PsykoRobot reading that you are just as bad with your assumptions as you are accusing the CMA of being.

@PsykoRobot How do you know that? Your other post was TLDR.

@NEStalgia So you are claiming let Microsoft grow its current monopoly in cloud streaming services, because they have discussed the cloud as an important part of their plans, because no competition exists right now. And let MS buy all the companies they like, they should only be regulated if competition exists? Funnily enough that was how they grew Windows, no real competition.

@Kaloudz Microsoft right now has a 60 to 70% global share of game streaming 'services', it is the second richest company on the planet thanks to having an almost 100% monopoly on computer operating systems, and you just want to let it grow a market as it likes, buy whoever they like to grow that market and you see nothing wrong with that? But you believe British companies now or in the future will compete when not even Sony can now?

Please do tell, what exactly do you think is going to stop Microsoft from forming this monopoly, well in fact growing the monopoly it already has? If you allow them to do as they want? Is it competition? Where from exactly? If you can't say then your argument is as valid as the CMA's is.

@Kaloudz Oh Jesus, you REALLY don't understand where the CMA are coming from. Your comment above quite literally defines and verifies the CMA's concerns....

@theduckofdeath I was using it as an example. Nothing more, but the history exists, the company is not any of holding monopolies and still gets fined for their actions as do others.
I don't know if it weighed on the CMA's decision of course.

@Kaloudz What? You literally said why can't companies invest now, I said what if the companies don't exist and your reply is companies should be held back? I give up with you... you don't understand what the CMA has stated at all.
Let's revisit on Monday.

@Moonglow The post I replied to stated no one was objecting the cloud aspect, Google were, in fact NVIDIA were too until they got their deal. Hence my comment, they don’t care as they did care about the merger and cloud gaming as was reported, until they got a deal from Microsoft and then Nvidia’s complaints went away. Now as we do not know the contents of the deal we can only speculate but considering all Nvidia’s complaints stopped I think it’s safe to say they got very favourable terms. Hence don’t care about any monopoly.

@Martsmall Haha the PM, a man who forced his way in and no one voted for them. Plus they have to be independent of the CMA, this is Britain not America, he can’t do anything.

@theduckofdeath Firstly Microsoft have been making their own computers for several years now, never heard of the Microsoft Surface? And f you want to know how a monopoly works, go and research what Microsoft was doing in the 90’s that lead to it nearly being split in half by the US government in 2000, because f its anti consumer monopolistic practices. Leopards don’t change their spots. It’s not just market position.

@BobCoffee Suggesting brexit was British being stubborn shows how little you know and understand, and attacking and labelling an entire nation of people is racism, it’s not just about skin colour.

@Kaloudz What if the company that wants to invest in 10 years time doesn’t exist? That’s not a very good argument you’ve made. They could approve the buyout now and in 10 years companies that don’t exist now but want to enter the clue gaming market may find themselves blocked by MS monopoly. The CMA will have had industry experts report and advise them in this, market analysts would have advised them. It wasn’t a decision made on the cuff.

@TheElectroFunky I was tempted to use the word racist I must admit, the accountant bit made me laugh 😂🤣 if the EU blocks it too I’m looking forward to what insults are used to describe them?

@Moonglow Google opposes this deal, as far as I know the other cloud investors supporting it have all been offered 10 year deals by Microsoft, they couldn’t care less what monopoly is formed as they have deals in hand already, which lets not forget we do not know the details off.
You need to look ‘very’ carefully at the players, and what ‘they’ will be gaining. Plus how many of these companies are British? The CMA is looking after Britains interests not Americas.

10 years from now cloud gaming could be the biggest games market, and 80% of it ran on Microsoft’s network and hardware, with their own services having preferential treatment, buying all the deals up, and it being impossible for any British company to enter and gain any traction in. Bit like Windows, which has a far reaching global monopoly.

@Blessed_Koz Yet again, instead of choosing to see facts and where the CMA are coming from, because you don’t like their decision you are attacking an entire nation of people, a perfect example of a complete lack of argument.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Think some people are too young to know the history of Microsoft and monopoly’s. The fact they were incredibly close to being forced to split up by US government due to their monopolistic power once, and fined heavily by the EU and forced to remove a browser from their OS. Hence why I don’t believe for a second any report claiming the EU will pass this deal at present.

@Sveakungen Sigh.. every time I see this.. no, they will HAVE to go back to all the investors, and ask them to vote on a new deal to do that, because the current deal investors have agreed to requires ALL major markets to approve it, that includes the UK, now they could ignore those investors, and the board could find themselves out of jobs and being sued.

They’ll basically have to ask all those investing billions of dollars in them if they are happy for them to pull out of a market valued at more then the entire deal is worth, annually I believe, and lose that return on their investments.

IF Microsoft and Activision Blizzard were private companies they could do what the hell they liked, but as they are both publicly traded companies they cannot.

@Kaloudz Stating ‘ The UK hate being wrong, and even worse, hate admitting they were wrong.’ sound very nationalist… I suggest you hold off singling out an entire nation until the EU ‘s decision…

The CMA also has a pretty valid point. You are only looking at the market now, as that’s how Microsoft want you and everyone else to look at it, trouble is once they own ActiBlizz they own it, and in 10 years time as the CMA points out could have an absolute monopoly on a market, which as it’s MS here they would be more then happy to have.

Usual process no biggy, think it just blocks them trying to buy other business related to the two for the moment.

@Ralizah Yes they may announce something, but they won't release any new hardware. If they do they are liable to being sued by their investors.
And as they'll want Christmas sales I don't think they will announce anything till January February next year. But you're right about the software releases. Still I personally think the Switch will eventually outsell the PS2. I'll probably grab It's successor when it's out, I've had a few Switches, Nintendo hardware is very good.

Haven't done, but if they launch a big game day and date I like on it I'll sub to play it. But only for a month or two.
If they ever launch Beyond Good And Evil 2 I would certainly be trying it.