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On the one hand, the ever growing monopolies in the entertainment industry are terrible, on the other, Microsoft taking control of Activision is just about the only scenario where Bobby and his cadre of ex-CIA ex-Trump Cabinet executives are made to leave the company.
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Dec 8, 2022 20:55
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https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2022/08/26/justice-department-antitrust-apple-00053939 No indication if anything will happen but they've been looking into Apple for a while (pre-Biden)
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Dec 8, 2022 20:58
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I'm not going to cry for a more than trillion dollar company if they don't get their way, but drawing the line here really does feel arbitrary. That said, I guess any enforcement regime has to start somewhere, so even if this feels arbitrary, it's better than nothing if it signals that there's going to be tighter scrutiny going forward. Of course the courts might just say gently caress off lol to the FTC and show that they don't have teeth even if they want to, idk.
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Dec 8, 2022 20:58
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The Meta case might’ve actually started hearings today, or if not I think it’s very soon. So we might get a preview from that.
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Dec 8, 2022 21:04
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IANAL, so what’s the goal here? Just to look tough? Or can they force concessions in a way that they can’t necessarily out of court? Seems weird this is necessary. https://twitter.com/beaurosser/status/1600958759987478530
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Dec 8, 2022 22:25
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regardless of anything, that is a terrible take from Jeff Grubb
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Dec 8, 2022 22:26
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The government also wants to stop him from playing games while driving, makes sense
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Dec 8, 2022 22:35
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This is what Microsoft's PR campaign buys you: journalists proclaiming the 2nd largest company in the world is a special snowflake that will save the workers via buyout despite the fact that pretty much every buyout results in mass layoffs
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Dec 8, 2022 22:40
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Doesn't change the fact that ActiBlizz's employees (the ones that remain after restructuring) and their games would arguably be much better off with the corporation that's interested in throwing out olive branches like candy these days. The corporation that has been on record with a promise for neutrality during pending union votes. etc. This situation, as with MOST, is multifaceted. If I was a Blizzard or Activision employee, I would be PRETTY annoyed that THIS is where the FTC decides to draw the line after letting Disney, Apple, Meta, Google, and Amazon eat their entire industries, even knowing that I could possibly be caught up in some restructuring. Then again, lots of layoffs going on now, so it's not like it really feels secure anywhere else atm either. Still, corporate consolidation is objectively bad long-term, but come on, FTC, lol.
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Dec 8, 2022 22:54
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The FTC can draw and is drawing more than one line. I’m not sure about the merits of this particular case but people shouldn’t use it to underplay the hugely, hugely improved trajectory the FTC is on.
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Dec 8, 2022 23:21
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Vegetable posted:The FTC can draw and is drawing more than one line. I’m not sure about the merits of this particular case but people shouldn’t use it to underplay the hugely, hugely improved trajectory the FTC is on. Yeah, for the next 18 months, maybe.
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Dec 8, 2022 23:41
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Does anyone know after the zenimax buy out were there any improvements there? MS is known for being pretty hands off know days with the publishers they buy, so are they actually likely to keep out the trash at Activision Blizzard management if they buy it. After the buy out will the workers there have any addational protections against mismanagement any one know? like the only major story after the Zenimax buy it has been the whole Mick Gordon thing, where MS just backed ID which shows they're more than willing to back some level of upper management fuckery.
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Dec 9, 2022 00:31
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Best I can offer you is anecdotal conversations with a friend of mine who works at DoubleFine who says things have been mostly the same except they don't have to worry about running out of money every year or so anymore.
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Dec 9, 2022 00:35
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dr_rat posted:Does anyone know after the zenimax buy out were there any improvements there? MS is known for being pretty hands off know days with the publishers they buy, so are they actually likely to keep out the trash at Activision Blizzard management if they buy it. After the buy out will the workers there have any addational protections against mismanagement any one know? I seem to recall early on in the buyout MS said they did want to clean things up with the management but what that actually means is anyones guess.
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Dec 9, 2022 00:38
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https://kotaku.com/state-of-decay-3-xbox-series-x-s-sexism-microsoft-undea-1848728682 Seems likely that if it's already broken Microsoft ain't gonna fix it unless employees make a lot of noise and go above their studio management to Microsoft/Xbox directly Although given the public nature of Activision's awfulness I imagine Microsoft will take a heavier hand, at least initially
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Dec 9, 2022 00:45
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MarcusSA posted:I seem to recall early on in the buyout MS said they did want to clean things up with the management but what that actually means is anyones guess. Giving Bobby kotick a giant pile of money to GTFO is what it meant
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Dec 9, 2022 00:48
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leper khan posted:Giving Bobby kotick a giant pile of money to GTFO is what it meant I mean that is a given because that's the only way to get him out at this point.
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Dec 9, 2022 00:52
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Like the timing for this is pretty weird because Microsoft has recently made points of playing nice with their competitors and more or less giving up on the idea of console exclusivity; Minecraft is still supported on goddamn everything and Banjo-Kazooie is back on Nintendo platforms.
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Dec 9, 2022 05:23
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dr_rat posted:Does anyone know after the zenimax buy out were there any improvements there? MS is known for being pretty hands off know days with the publishers they buy, so are they actually likely to keep out the trash at Activision Blizzard management if they buy it. After the buy out will the workers there have any addational protections against mismanagement any one know? The other day there was a news thingo about how the Zenimax QA department had unionized and MS was totally hands off about it, so there's that at least
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Dec 9, 2022 06:44
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Like the timing for this is pretty weird because Microsoft has recently made points of playing nice with their competitors and more or less giving up on the idea of console exclusivity; Minecraft is still supported on goddamn everything and Banjo-Kazooie is back on Nintendo platforms. I think that's a little backwards though. Microsoft's taking all these steps to show everyone they don't intend to abuse their market power (in large part to try to get ahead of FTC action), but I think the FTC's position is that nobody should have that amount of market power to begin with whether they intend to abuse it in the near term or not.
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Dec 9, 2022 07:32
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Dr Kool-AIDS posted:I think that's a little backwards though. Microsoft's taking all these steps to show everyone they don't intend to abuse their market power (in large part to try to get ahead of FTC action), but I think the FTC's position is that nobody should have that amount of market power to begin with whether they intend to abuse it in the near term or not. Yet Disney got through with their merger scot free. I want them see dismantled so badly, set a precedent. Or postcedent, I guess.
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Dec 9, 2022 07:47
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THE BAR posted:Yet Disney got through with their merger scot free. I want them see dismantled so badly, set a precedent. Or postcedent, I guess. I don't really think that's needed seeing as how Disney is doing a pretty good job on its own of running itself into the ground.
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Dec 9, 2022 07:49
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MarcusSA posted:I don't really think that's needed seeing as how Disney is doing a pretty good job on its own of running itself into the ground. Could you elaborate on this? I was under the impression they were doing extremely well
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Dec 9, 2022 08:12
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They axed a ton of their planned films and *content* for the Star Wars and Marvel franchises. I think Disney is doing OK in the long run though, they just managed to totally saturate the market inside of like 5 years. Some execs saw upwards trending growth and didn't realize there's a ceiling on how much people want to consume inside of a calendar year. E. at least in terms of the games industry, I think they are doing good (kinda?) because games aren't locked up in legal prison every time a license changes hands. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Dec 9, 2022 |
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Dec 9, 2022 09:20
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Also isn't D+ currently bleeding money?
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Dec 9, 2022 09:32
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Oh yeah, all the streaming services have a big Covid hangover. They've been pouring venture capital down the toilet for a decade now trying to get market share and there is still no clear winner. Prices going up slowly now. MS has something really special with Gamepass, the same thing could have happened with subscription games.
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Dec 9, 2022 09:35
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tithin posted:Could you elaborate on this? I was under the impression they were doing extremely well Disney took on a lot of debt since 2018 as many other studios did in the years before covid, but their biggest problem is that travel isn't carrying their balancesheet like it used to. But they also invested strongly into China with theme park destinations in HK and Shanghai. China is very far from normal right now, and EuroDisney probably isn't helped by the war, either. Rumor has it that when Michael Eisner first came to Disney, they told him how much a single dollar of theme park admission increase equaled in annual revenue, and it was never the same again.
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Dec 9, 2022 09:37
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Fruits of the sea posted:
Ahahahahaha we wish. And more like, where does this end? Not far off the argument of forcing Nintendo to put Mario on PlayStation or whatever.
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Dec 9, 2022 10:38
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/mar/02/microsoft There is certainly precedent for something like that
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Dec 9, 2022 11:19
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Their “well, guess he’s the best we’ve got” CEO pick after Iger left has fumbled hard. Bob Chapek is a conservative who came from running parks, and did such a poo poo job that the board canned him and begged Iger to come back. There’s a ton of issues, but him treating talent (Hollywood A-Listers) like disposable theme park employees, badly bungling the “Don’t say gay” bill response, and Disney+ losing a BILLION dollars last QUARTER, are among the top cited.
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Dec 9, 2022 17:15
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Don’t see a problem with treating Hollywood a-listers the same as theme park employees. If you’re nice to both of them. 
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Dec 9, 2022 17:58
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https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1601298430747631618
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Dec 9, 2022 21:05
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That seems like a bafflingly terrible mistake for a government prosecution to make, especially up against a company as ridiculously lawyered up as Microsoft who are going to be sextuple checking every claim you make.
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Dec 9, 2022 22:20
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Why would anyone trust the legal analysis of tech enthusiast press writers?
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Dec 10, 2022 00:19
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koolkal posted:Why would anyone trust the legal analysis of tech enthusiast press writers? The source is the "investigative news agency MLex", which based on my cursory searching and the boilerplate on their website, appears to focus primarily on mergers. They supposedly contacted the EU regulators and were told effectively "yeah that didn't happen". Whether or not this represents the FTC loving up really bad or if it's a nothingburger and someone's trying to put their finger on the scales, we'll see.
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Dec 10, 2022 01:40
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Kanos posted:The source is the "investigative news agency MLex", which based on my cursory searching and the boilerplate on their website, appears to focus primarily on mergers. They supposedly contacted the EU regulators and were told effectively "yeah that didn't happen". Here's the actual report from the EU. While the commission didn't ask Microsoft to make ZeniMax non-exclusives, it's because Microsoft said that there was no incentive to make them platform exclusive and the commission took what Microsoft and ZeniMax said at face value. (See section 5.2.3.2) Microsoft and ZeniMax basically stated that there are "strong incentives to continue making ZeniMax games available for rival consoles (and their related storefronts)": quote:The Notifying Party explains that the profitability of a strategy to make ZeniMax games exclusive to the Xbox console would depend on a trade-off between: (i) the value of attracting new players to the Xbox ecosystem; and (ii) the lost income from the sale of ZeniMax games for rival consoles (through the related storefronts). In this regard, the Notifying Party forecasts that a significant share of ZeniMax games sales will occur on rival consoles over the life cycle of the newly released console generation. Based on such a trade-off, the Notifying Party submits that a hypothetical console exclusivity strategy would be profitable only if it led to an increase in the number of Xbox users [forecast million] over the next five years, corresponding to an increase in Xbox shipments [forecast percentage] above the forecast level. And basically the commission bought it; hook, line and sinker: quote:Therefore, ..., the Commission concludes that the combined entity would not have the incentive to foreclose rival console video game distributors by engaging in a total or partial input foreclosure strategy. It is pretty humourous that the commission basically calls the Xbox library "subpar" compared to Nintendo and Sony's in their rationale to reach the above conclusion: quote:Third, more generally, the Commission also notes that Sony and Nintendo consoles are differentiated products, due to the availability of several exclusive games, some of which, as detailed above,121 are highly attractive to players. Rival consoles have built a strong reputation and enjoy a degree of brand loyalty by players, as demonstrated by a Best SEO Companies’ survey. Therefore, on top of the considerations set out above, it is implausible that a sufficiently significant number of players would switch to the Xbox driven by the desire to play ZeniMax games, abandoning other ecosystems with a richer game library.
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Dec 10, 2022 02:39
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTRMOkdIGrQ This video about several of Crime Boss's reload animations being straight out of Modern Warfare 2019 is getting passed around by a couple of my animators. Even if it was "done by the same people and therefore above-board" (extremely unlikely), it still looks VERY sketchy.
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Dec 11, 2022 07:35
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Kith posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTRMOkdIGrQ That is hilarious
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Dec 11, 2022 07:48
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You might get something super close if you had the same person do mocap for each game since muscle memory doesn't diverge much... but mw2019 hand animated their reloads apparently.
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Dec 11, 2022 07:51
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