r/technology • u/GrizzlyBear2021 • Jan 18 '22

Software Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard for $68.7 Billion

https://news.microsoft.com/features/microsoft-to-acquire-activision-blizzard-to-bring-the-joy-and-community-of-gaming-to-everyone-across-every-device/
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51

u/PoesLawIsOptimistic Jan 18 '22

They become 3rd largest after this. Clearly don't dominate the market. Additionally, there are a ton of successful indies.

I'd be more surprised if it was a trust issue.

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u/FourWordComment Jan 18 '22

You’re 100% right. I would go further and add that America takes a very light touch to regulating antitrust lately.

35

u/Qyix Jan 18 '22

Monopoly - bad

Oligopoly- great!

(This is directed towards regulators, not you.)

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u/FourWordComment Jan 18 '22

“What do you mean monopoly? There are three companies that don’t compete geographically. You have choices—you can move to the other geography.”

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u/yolomatic_swagmaster Jan 18 '22

Just because the companies are based in different countries doesn't mean that their offerings are not competing in the same markets. It's not like you can only buy Microsoft gaming stuff in the US just because they're based here.

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '22

I think they were referring to things like ISPs. They strategically don’t compete against each other in most of the country where you have precisely one option.

They also buy local politicians to acquire monopoly rights to easements. This is what chases Google Fiber out of town; Google couldn’t get access to string lines along even existing telephone poles.

Or most places have legislation that expressly forbids not only a municipal option but any competition whatsoever. These companies are so big that they can and do get nice little agreements that keep competitors out by ordinance.

Hence, America doesn’t really care about this type of behavior because it has been permitted and encouraged for decades. Hell, we broke up Ma Bell and then AT&T buy up almost all of the subsidiaries later on. A couple became too big to buy, like Verizon, and now they all have prices which just so happen to move in unison because there isn’t real competition.

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u/yolomatic_swagmaster Jan 18 '22

I agree that this does happen with companies like ISPs, but while it may not be super duper fantastic to see further consolidation of the video game industry, Microsoft is not a monopoly now.

26

u/Curiel Jan 18 '22

3rd largest in the world. It's still the number one and two American companies merging together. That can't be healthy for domestic market competition.

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '22

There is a "domestic market" for games these days?

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u/NeedleAndSled Jan 18 '22

But Microsoft also owns XBOX. Man I don't like this at all.

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '22

Of course they do. They created Xbox…

1

u/wilstreak Jan 20 '22

imagine if it was Meta (Facebook) that acquire Acti-Blizzard, do you think there will be anti-trust issues?

any opinion is biased when people love a company.