this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
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[–] Neato@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Look at how Epic was doing business. They threw around hundreds of millions of dollars to buy exclusivity. And Epic was small time compared to MS. What happens when they do the same but on a larger scale? They buy exclusivity to Game Pass forever? They're already buying gaming powerhouses, indie games are a drop in the bucket.

This merger should be opposed by everyone. It's a dark sign of things to come. They've already shown they WILL cut out all competition once they buy competitors.

[–] SigloPseudoMundo@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

Fuck Sony, they're even worse with exclusivity to the point of making hardware that's difficult to port to and hard to design games for.

[–] ampersandrew@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They kind of can't buy any competitors at this point. They got through this acquisition by the skin of their teeth and have to cool it, and after all that, I doubt this leads to a future where they've got a larger market share than PlayStation. There's also just far too much competition in the gaming space for them to approach a monopoly. Epic couldn't will their store into superiority over Steam, especially when they're not doing anything to solve problems for their customers, and Microsoft still has to make good products to get you to buy them too.

[–] Neato@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Eh, I'm not that hopeful. the FTC asked them questions but it was never really going to stop them. MS has the capital to buy Sony, if it was feasible to do so. I expect them to continue to buy stuff up until they are actually denied. They have the lawyers to throw at the government in perpetuity.

[–] ampersandrew@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

That's far more cynical than I can meet you at, and it's probably why the merger isn't "opposed by everyone". Microsoft is already dancing right up to the line of antitrust, though I suspect that if they're broken up, the video game division remains in one piece, not several.

[–] Sivick314@universeodon.com 2 points 1 year ago

@Neato @Shatur @MelodiousFunk @BroBot9000 @SuiXi3D I mean, I would oppose it... but it turns out I hate acti-blizz leadership more than I fear Microsoft.

[–] BroBot9000@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yup! They are trying to build their own walled garden like Apple.

This and all other massive company mergers need to be stopped and undone.