Good. Now only if some developers would make games worth playing in a Mac. Literally considering buying a pc for games I really don’t want to.
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UK Regulator Blocks Microsoft's $70 Billion Activision Blizzard Acquisition
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They should block all Microsoft acquisition these days.
Still need to deal with MS for future game compatibility in the guise of Windows 11 for ARM. Unless Apple improves compatibility on its own. Also who can force some type of partnership with Apple as far as cloud gaming for more ports. I know we don’t wish the current ignorance to continue with processor platform changes.
Developers aren't gonna support the Mac even with how great Apple Silicon is, and the reason is simple: Apple. Apple is really out of touch with the game industry. They divested OpenGL and refused to adopt Vulkan, they killed 32 bit app support which nuked the majority of all Mac ports, they want everyone to use Metal when Vulkan is the new standard everyone wants, and Apple has made it clear they look down on the AAA game industry. The testimonies from Apple execs during Apple vs Epic basically assured that the majority of game devs will never support macOS, unless Apple gave them a bag of cash to do so like they did with Capcom to put Resident Evil on macOS.
So unless Apple puts Vulkan on macOS and actually puts game industry focused execs in charge and get on their hands and knees begging gamedevs to come back, they're not gonna. So you might as well just get a PC as your gaming device. I recommend a Steam Deck. It's the perfect companion device for the average Mac user.
https://www.steamdeck.com/
I thought I read an article a while back that said that the CMA was going to let it happen? Wasn’t that article here on MacRumors?
And both Microsoft and Activision are US-based companies. It seems kind of wild that the UK would even attempt to insert themselves into a matter that they have no jurisdiction in.
kotick is getting the chute either way. We just have to let that one go. But the sooner he is sent into retirement and out of power, the better. ActiBlizz has gone waaaaaay downhill the last few years in just about every way. I don’t see Microsoft doing any worse.
It's already an arms race to buy up all the studios. It's just a Sony versus Microsoft power war. It has nothing to do with the consumer. We will be fine either way.
There will always be a place for console gaming. Streaming is fine, but it will be a very niche sub-set of gaming for most of this decade. Highspeed internet is not nearly ubiquitous enough on a global scale to give it any advantage over console gaming.
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All I wanted from Blizzard was Overwatch, and someone was quoted as saying that Apple wouldn’t let them distribute it the way they wanted to so they couldn’t release it for Mac. I don’t know wtf that was supposed to mean. There was nothing stopping them from distributing it exactly the same way they do on Windows. Unless there was something truly obnoxious they were trying to do, which is completely believable from ActiBlizz of the last decade or so.
And of course they eventually killed Overwatch in the most ass way possible anyway, so I don’t care anymore.
Maybe this will be good for Mac gamers. But that’s a very low bar. Apple doesn’t even care about gaming on the Mac. Every now and then someone that works there will say they do. But Apple already thinks they are wildly successful in gaming because they make billions every year off App Store casino games and scams.
You do know it's not over right? They're appealing the decision and they can easily overturn it with concessions. A lot of deals the CMA blocked were overturned in the appeals. Plus if the EU signs off on it, Microsoft and ABK can still close even if the UK blocks it
He says as Sony pays third party publishers to skip Xbox and delay PC releases
Yes the platform in last place is a monopoly.
Kotick's parachute would happen even if the deal didn't close. He's that much of a greasestain. At least under Microsoft ABK's employees could unionize, and I'd have Blizzard games on Steam FINALLY killing that god awful BattleNet launcher.
How? After Microsoft bought Bethesda we got the entire Bethesda+Zenimax catalog on Game Pass, great games like Hi Fi Rush, and Bethesda's teams are happier since they have more resources to work with. It's been a net positive for everyone...except Playstation. Hmm. 🤔
That makes zero sense. Microsoft and Apple have a good working relationship with macOS software. Microsoft owns Mojang, yet Minecraft is still on Mac, and it even got updated to be native to Apple Silicon. The iOS version of Minecraft has crossplay with PC and console. Microsoft even actively pushes Apple to let them put Xbox Cloud on iOS.
So Microsoft buying ABK wouldn't change your Blizzard games on Mac, especially since these games have a large Mac userbase. They would be fools to abandon them.
All I wanted from Blizzard was Overwatch, and someone was quoted as saying that Apple wouldn’t let them distribute it the way they wanted to so they couldn’t release it for Mac. I don’t know wtf that was supposed to mean. There was nothing stopping them from distributing it exactly the same way they do on Windows. Unless there was something truly obnoxious they were trying to do, which is completely believable from ActiBlizz of the last decade or so.
And of course they eventually killed Overwatch in the most ass way possible anyway, so I don’t care anymore.
Maybe this will be good for Mac gamers. But that’s a very low bar. Apple doesn’t even care about gaming on the Mac. Every now and then someone that works there will say they do. But Apple already thinks they are wildly successful in gaming because they make billions every year off App Store casino games and scams.
Most all of Sony's studios were either homegrown or they were 2nd party/exclusive relationships that they developed before buying them. Just a few examples...
Naughty Dog: Crash Bandicoot 1-3 and Crash Team Racing (all exclusives funded by Sony), then purchased by Sony.
Sucker Punch: Sly Cooper 1-3 and Infamous 1 (all exclusives funded by Sony), then purchased by Sony.
Insomniac: Spyro 1-3, 11 Ratchet & Clank games, 3 Resistance games, and Spiderman (all exclusives funded by Sony), then purchased by Sony. They even went off and worked with Microsoft on an exclusive (Sunset Overdrive) but ended up coming back to Sony.
Comparing how Sony cultivated their 1st party studios to what Microsoft has done is absurd. Also it's worth noting that in this case, they're attempting to buy one of the largest publishers in the world. That's just a bit different than buying the team that made Crash Bandicoot. Microsoft has been buying up studios -- and publishers -- left and right, but if you look at the actual output of their studios (not including games that were already well into development before acquisition), it's obvious that they have not been good at managing their studios and their IP. Just look at Halo alone.
Streaming will never be mainstream until companies like AT&T and Comcast stop gouging people for data under the guise of “data caps.”
AT&T and Comcast (among others) actively work against improving Internet access in the United States. They want to keep it relatively scarce and gouge for it as long as possible.
Refusing to build-out or charging thousands for access, even though everyone pays a “universal service fund” every month supposedly for exactly that reason.
Refusing to offer even 100 Mbps upstream
The aforementioned data caps
Actively lobbying to keep the definition of “broadband” to about 14 Mbps down (I don’t think they even consider upstream) so AT&T can claim to offer broadband
The list goes on and on and on.
The only reason companies like Google and Amazon thought game streaming could work is because they are based in the high tech centers of the Bay Area and Seattle where this is a non-issue. The rest of the country is still shackled to the telco cartels.
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If you think this is "good news" for Blizzard Games on Mac you are obviously not consuming this content...
Warcraft III Reforged was the last game released on the Mac and that is because it was started before the massive top level changes... every single game since then (remake or new content) has only gone to Windows... and Diablo IV in June is the same.
For the existing fleet of games still done on the Mac, well World of Warcraft is the biggest and their January patch literals broke the game for Mac players for 4 days if those players were not running Monterey or Ventura. This was not a slight problem and it was corrected but it suggests that Mac development is at the worst state it has ever been at Blizzard (and it is because of ATVI management more than anything else.)
Warcraft III Reforged was the last game released on the Mac and that is because it was started before the massive top level changes... every single game since then (remake or new content) has only gone to Windows... and Diablo IV in June is the same.
For the existing fleet of games still done on the Mac, well World of Warcraft is the biggest and their January patch literals broke the game for Mac players for 4 days if those players were not running Monterey or Ventura. This was not a slight problem and it was corrected but it suggests that Mac development is at the worst state it has ever been at Blizzard (and it is because of ATVI management more than anything else.)
I think Microsoft should be looking after the studios they already own. From the outside they don’t seem to nurture or support them as much as Sony seem to with theirs.
Microsoft seem keener on just trying to buy it.
Microsoft seem keener on just trying to buy it.
Best news this year so far. These mergers have done nothing but cause decline in quality of products and services and insane monopolization and centralization of wealth and power.
Per CNN
Microsoft President Brad Smith added: “This decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of the market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works.”
The Competition and Markets Authority, which launched an in-depth review of the blockbuster deal in September, said Microsoft’s proposed remedies to its concerns had “significant shortcomings.”
“Their proposals… would have replaced competition with ineffective regulation in a new and dynamic market,” explained Martin Coleman, chair of the independent panel of experts conducting the investigation.
“Microsoft already enjoys a powerful position and head start over other competitors in cloud gaming, and this deal would strengthen that advantage, giving it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors,” Coleman continued. “Cloud gaming needs a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice.”
The UK cloud gaming market is expected to be worth up to £1 billion ($1.2 billion) by 2026, around 9% of the global market, according to the Competition and Markets Authority.
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Interesting how CMA is so focused on cloud game marketing when it represents only a small percentage by 2026?
Microsoft, Activision plan to appeal
Both companies plan to appeal the decision. “Alongside Microsoft, we can and will contest this decision, and we’ve already begun the work to appeal to the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement.Microsoft President Brad Smith added: “This decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of the market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works.”
The Competition and Markets Authority, which launched an in-depth review of the blockbuster deal in September, said Microsoft’s proposed remedies to its concerns had “significant shortcomings.”
“Their proposals… would have replaced competition with ineffective regulation in a new and dynamic market,” explained Martin Coleman, chair of the independent panel of experts conducting the investigation.
“Microsoft already enjoys a powerful position and head start over other competitors in cloud gaming, and this deal would strengthen that advantage, giving it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors,” Coleman continued. “Cloud gaming needs a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice.”
The UK cloud gaming market is expected to be worth up to £1 billion ($1.2 billion) by 2026, around 9% of the global market, according to the Competition and Markets Authority.
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Interesting how CMA is so focused on cloud game marketing when it represents only a small percentage by 2026?
I wonder if any government regulator has even played a Blizzard game or knew anything about the company before this happened.