Florian Mueller @Florian4Gamers Twitter profile

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

WE HAVE THE DECISION! FTC LOST! Microsoft-ABK can close! ". After considering the parties’ voluminous pre-and-post hearing writing submissions, and having held a five-day evidentiary hearing, the Court DENIES the motion for preliminary injunction. The FTC has not shown" 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Game over for @FTC . The appeals court declines to enjoin the transaction. I went to sleep a little bit because I wasn't lying when I said I was fairly optimistic and there was only a residual risk. 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Great! Congressman @KevinKileyCA pointed Lina Khan to Judge Corley's finding that the ABK deal will result in more access to games, says the appeal is even less likely to be won by the FTC and wants to know why they're wasting taxpayer money.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

FTC: We appeal. Microsoft: We oppose. CMA: We're playing it smart, preserving our authority while keeping UK open for business. Gamers: What day do we get ABK games on Game Pass?

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

🇰🇷 BREAKING: #Microsoft 's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard has been cleared today by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, apparently unconditionally. This means the deal has been approved by the regulators in charge of 39 countries with a collective population size > 2.4 billion

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

BREAKING The #EuropeanCommission has APPROVED #Microsoft 's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard ! #UnblockABK Pragmatism has prevailed. Incredible timing: tomorrow the CMA's leadership must justify its regulatory excess in the UK Parliament. FOSS Patents blog post coming shortly.

Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The @CMAgovUK 's chairman and CEO have to testify tomorrow before the Business and Trade Committee of the UK Parliament on "the work of the Competition and Markets Authority". UK lawmakers will ask questions, hopefully also related to #Microsoft - #ActivisionBlizzard ! #UnblockABK

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

8 months

Here we go: Microsoft is buying #ActivisionBlizzard ! $ATVI stopped trading at 7:50 PM Eastern Time. The reason code (T1) means: "Trading is halted pending the release of material news" Only plausible explanation: CMA will clear, followed by announcement of deal closing! 🧵1/4

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

China's SAMR has approved #Microsoft 's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard ! Just got the news from a New York-based financial analyst. This means the deal has been approved in 38 countries with a total population of 2.37 billion people and aggregate GDP of US$42 trillion. 🧵1/2

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The CMA is not preventing something that would damage competition, but is shielding a market leader from competition and preventing a serious challenger to Apple's and Google's mobile app stores from emerging. The CMA has now lost its reputation as a reasonable regulator.

Competition & Markets Authority

@CMAgovUK

1 year

We’ve prevented @Microsoft from purchasing @Activision over concerns the deal would damage competition in the #CloudGaming market, leading to less innovation and choice for UK #gamers . ☁️

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

8 months

Done deal! Approved. Consummated. Now a reality. The deal that didn't die despite regulatory resistance that had no legally valid basis. The @FTC should reflect now. Tilting at windmills is not the answer

Phil Spencer

@XboxP3

8 months

Whether you play on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, you’re always welcome here – even if Xbox isn’t where you play your favorite franchise. Because when everyone plays, we all win.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The EU Commission essentially told the CMA and FTC today: If you want to protect competition through effective remedies, count us in. If you want to block mergers just because you think it's cool, even to the detriment of competition, count us out. The voice of reason.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Hardly anyone has been more wrong on Microsoft-ActivisionBlizzard than @matthewstoller . He's not really in favor of competition (otherwise he'd see why that merger results in more, not less, competition between certain major players). His behavior is at times unacceptable. 🧵1/4

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Wow! That's the best news.

Brad Smith

@BradSmi

11 months

Our statement on the mutual request with the CMA for a pause of our appeal in the UK:

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Judge Corley just released a less heavily redacted version of her denial of the FTC's PI motion: Additional passages are now publicly accessible, particularly about Sony! Here's a long passage about Sony's practices that was previously redacted: As a

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

HUGE: One of the 2-3 most powerful members of the UK government issues a clear warning to @CMAgovUK concerning its attempt to block #Microsoft 's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard . "One of the reasons that companies like Microsoft ... invest in the UK is because we have independent

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

#Microsoft 's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard has been cleared in 37 countries. Yes, thirty-seven countries with well over 900 million inhabitants. In alphabetical order and with flags: 🇦🇹 Austria 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇷 Brazil 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 🇨🇱 Chile 🇭🇷 Croatia 🇨🇾 Cyprus 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Better late than never. #Sony kept a low profile in recent months with respect to the acquisition of ABK, markedly different from "I don't want a new CoD deal. I just want to block your merger." Now this constructive solution has been reached. 🧵1/3

Phil Spencer

@XboxP3

11 months

We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

@TWTHEREDDRAGON FTC has no facts to support its theories, turns antitrust law on its head by protecting a market leader, and comes up with crazy economics by comparing a 3rd-party deal for a time-limited exclusive to an acquisition as if paying for a night at a hotel was like buying a house, No

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Who cares about competition anyway?

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The @FTC hits a new low here by complaining about Microsoft HYPOTHETICALLY doing something that Sony is IN FACT already doing with that exact same game, Call of Duty, by means of a PlayStation preferencing contract. This is not just a disaster. It's an utter disgrace.

Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Judge Corley: how big is the market of the people that care so much that they would switch and buy an Xbox they wouldn't otherwise buy? FTC: it's not about just switching, the harm to the PS person and they have CoD and there's some new character and that's not an Xbox. 🧵79/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Judge Corley applied common sense and mainstream antitrust case law to the facts. The CMA apparently wants to be pragmatic rather than duke it out in the Competition Appeal Tribunal. This is on the right track and I hope they'll close the deal Monday or Tuesday.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Given that no U.S. merger was prohibited after it closed following the denial of a preliminary injunction, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard King has now been cleared in 41 countries with more than 2.8 billion inhabitants and an aggregate GDP of $68 trillion (more

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

This map shows how cowardly it is of Jim Ryan not to show up in person: about 30 minutes by car from Sony Interactive Entertainment's worldwide HQ to the courthouse. He could get there in 2 hours riding a bike -- which is about the flight time (!) from Seattle (Microsoft) to SFO.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

HUGE: According to Reuters, the @EU_Commission will clear #Microsoft 's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard next week. Monday (May 15) is the most probable date for the decision to be formally announced. This reporter has great Brussels sources! #UnblockABK

EU decision clearing $69 billion Microsoft, Activision deal expected May 15, sources say

EU antitrust regulators are set to approve Microsoft Corp's $69 billion acquisition of Activision next week, with May 15 as the likeliest date, people familiar with the matter said.

www.reuters.com

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

According to this tweet from Brazil, the FTC mentioned Sony 72 times and "consumer(s)" only 11 times at the hearing. I haven't verified this but sounds plausible.

Narik

@MusicNarik

1 year

FTC Citação palavra SONY = 72 vezes Citação palavra CONSUMIDOR = 11 vezes Se eu fosse a juíza Jacqueline Scott Corley já teria encerrado esse caso na data de ontem, pois esse julgamento por parte da @FTC não passa de uma PIADA!

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

50+ years since the last vertical merger was blocked in the United States under the FTC Act. 40 countries where this one has been cleared. Less than 18 hours left for the TRO. 9th Circuit is the final boss.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

While all of the Congresspersons taking Lina Khan to task are Republicans, including the two who brought up the FTC's misguided ABK case, and all Democrats speaking there defend the FTC, none has so far defended the FTC's action against the ABK deal. I like that.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Day 2 of the ABK PI hearing. First tweet of today's courtroom commentary thread. Phil Spencer wearing a tie today (unlike yesterday) for his testimony, which will begin in about 35 minutes. Let's see if he stays on or flies back after his testimony. 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

A small divestiture means @CMAgovUK can argue it didn't settle for a purely behavioral remedy. It also means the deal can go forward. Sounds good to me.

HazzadorGamin, Dragon of Dojima

@HazzadorGamin

11 months

CNBC reports Microsoft and the CMA have agreed to a 'small divestiture" but it's not clear what that is yet

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The CMA is being the CMA. Instead of recognizing its error, it seeks to defend the indefensible and to rationalize the irrational. Microsoft setting the terms? It's a FREE streaming license for end users. The @CATribunal won't be impressed. The government shouldn't either.

Competition & Markets Authority

@CMAgovUK

1 year

This is one of the reasons the CMA’s independent panel group rejected Microsoft’s proposals and prevented this deal. While we recognise and respect that the European Commission is entitled to take a different view, the CMA stands by its decision. [5/5]

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

9 months

Yeah! @CMAgovUK is now cool with Microsoft-ActivisionBlizzard. 👍🎇🙏 I just posted a video here from Brighton and I didn't know this would still happen while I'm in the UK. This time around my positive attitude has not been proven wrong.

Competition & Markets Authority

@CMAgovUK

9 months

Update: new #Microsoft / #Activision deal addresses previous CMA concerns in cloud gaming. Read more:

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Congressman @FitzgeraldForWI asked Lina Khan why they decided yesterday with their appeal to go against 30+ years of U.S. legal tradition and the stance on the same merger by 39 countries. Lina Khan declines to comment as the matter is pending, suggests legal error by J. Corley.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

I've just found an indication that the UK government will now be asked to overrule the @CMAgovUK 's outrageous #Microsoft - #ActivisionBlizzard decision. It does have the statutory power to do that, and here it should exercise it. In his BBC video interview

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

#FTC motion for preliminary injunction against #Microsoft 's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard will predictably be denied next week: multiple requirements clearly not satisfied #Activision @FTC @CMAgovUK $ATVI

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

9 months

If Sony had gotten its way, Starfield might not even have become available as a PC game. Those who are unhappy that it's not available for their console and absolutely positively don't want to buy an Xbox now have a PC alternative. This is not as exclusive as some other games.

Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

10 months

The fact that Sony was considered to be trying to get Bethesda to skip Xbox for Starfield is the subject of sworn testimony.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

There's less anxiety now in the gamer community, but tremendous impatience about the UK situation. You will all remember that after the CMA's April 26 decision, most of the "experts" and clearly the stock market thought the deal was dead. As did Sony-aligned deal critics: 🧵1/2

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

No worries about the UK situation. The @CATribunal would have ruled on the case before October. It's obvious that Microsoft wouldn't have agreed with the @CMAgovUK to request a stay of the CAT proceedings if there wasn't a way to close the deal now. 🧵1/2

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

There's a LONG redacted passage after a mention of Sony's use of market power when it does partial-exclusivity deals with 3rd-party game makers. Some of that may come back to haunt Sony for many years! 🧵11/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

I've been asked how I view the state of play in FTC v. Microsoft & Activision after today's court session. Unchanged. There won't be an injunction. FTC is far from winning, now focused on damage control. They hope to avoid it, but their defeat will be worse than in Meta-Within.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The public part of the UK parliamentary oversight hearing on CMA's work has finally started. Chair says "we're gonna ask about some topical cases ... most widely covered news is Microsoft-ActivisionBlizzard, please give us a quick summary" 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Sony Interactive Entertainment should call its community to reason. Sony, it's presumably over, so there's no point in a rabid segment bringing an otherwise mostly reasonable community into disrepute. BTW the FTC (not MSFT) wanted Judge Corley to get the case. That's a fact.

Niko

@NikoMueller

11 months

Death threats for judge Corley already happening. 🙄 I feel so sorry for the real Sony fan base for having to deal with such individuals. 🤦‍♂️ #ActivisionBlizzard

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

The @CATribunal hearing has started but there is a request by both parties to deactivate the livestream. Mr Justice Marcus Smith, however, keeps the livestream going! He says it's either private or public, but not public in-person without livestream. Recordings prohibited 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Even Judge Corley's staff is at work today. They publicly filed the hearing minutes for Thursday and Friday. That is dedication to justice. They know that justice delayed is justice denied. The FTC would like to delay justice, but it won't get its way. It will lose, and soon.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

This here is a Forbes opinion piece by someone who is NOT in favor of the ABK acquisition (doesn't like consolidation) but says FTC and Sony are losing it big-time here in San Francisco: The FTC-Sony Case Against The Microsoft Activision Deal Is Very Bad

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California has just denied the #Sony -supported class-action lawyers a preliminary injunction against #Microsoft - #ActivisionBlizzard . It's not a "gamers' lawsuit" but a lawyers'

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Microsoft and Activision have just responded to the FTC's emergency motion for an injunction pending the 9th Circuit appeal. Here's the document, followed by my rapid commentary. 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

European Commission officially confirms it has been in touch with regulators in "UK, but also Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand" about #Microsoft - #ActivisionBlizzard . A diplomatic dig at the CMA: the EU remedy has been celebrated by "developers, by cloud gaming

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The European Commission works for consumers, in this case: gamers worldwide. The CMA has so far acted against the interests of gamers, apart from one faction of console warriors who'd rather cut their nose to spite their face. The EU decision will stand, the UK decision won't.

Brad Smith

@BradSmi

1 year

The European Commission has required Microsoft to license popular Activision Blizzard games automatically to competing cloud gaming services. This will apply globally and will empower millions of consumers worldwide to play these games on any device they choose.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

#Ukraine just became the 7th country to clear #Microsoft - #ActivisionBlizzard . Stay tuned for my blog post tomorrow on #UnblockABK . The deal will happen, the abusive CMA decision is way too weak and ridiculous to be an insurmountable hurdle.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Anyone who engages in Judge Corley bashing should read the decision, which states clearly that it was the FTC who wanted her to handle the case while Microsoft actually wanted to litigate in the District of Columbia, which I'm sure was because of case law (not judge-shopping).

Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Hardly anyone has been more wrong on Microsoft-ActivisionBlizzard than @matthewstoller . He's not really in favor of competition (otherwise he'd see why that merger results in more, not less, competition between certain major players). His behavior is at times unacceptable. 🧵1/4

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

This screenshot is from the first page and cotnains the sentence that says she denies because the FTC has not been able to show a likelihood of success on any one of its theories of harm. 🧵2/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

#Microsoft and the @CMAgovUK will clash in the @CATribunal on Tuesday, May 30, for the first time: for a case management conference. The CAT has just published a summary of Microsoft's grounds of appeal. Note that #ActivisionBlizzard also appealed, just not published yet. 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

8 months

I've taken the extraordinary step to change my X handle. As promised, this account belongs to the gamer community 🎮 by now: the focus here will remain on issues gamers care about. Just didn't want to rename the account prior to the consummation of the acquisition of ABK.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

The Microsoft-ABK deal has now been cleared in 40 countries (not counting the U.S. as the case is technically pending) with more than 2.5 billion inhabitants and an aggregate Gross Domestic Product of US$44.8 trillion. Updating my country list with flags now: 🧵1/2

Lulu Cheng Meservey

@lulumeservey

11 months

Today, Turkey unconditionally approved our merger with Microsoft. Now, yet another country has arrived at a thoughtful decision that protects consumers and competition rather than the entrenched dominance of the market leader.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

This here could be the biggest bombshell in the entire evidentiary record: Jim Ryan was apparently certain that CoD would remain on the PlayStation because of Sony's market power.

Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

!!! Apparently Jim Ryan said something privately on the day the acquisition of ABK was announced that CONTRADICTS the claim that Microsoft would withdraw CoD from the PlayStation! But that part is redacted in the filing. !!! 🧵6/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

BREAKING #ActivisionBlizzard $ATVI has hired an ultra-high-profile UK lawyer to help lead the @CATribunal appeal of the @CMAgovUK merger-blocking decision: Lord David Pannick KC (KC = King's Counsel) His clients include(d), among others, - Queen Elizabeth II, - former Prime

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Judge Corley stands by her decision and now the FTC needs the appeals court to decide within one day, which is unreasonable. They should have gotten their act together much quicker. The TRO only has about 27 hours left.

Michael Acton

@MActon93

11 months

Short and sweet: "The FTC asks this Court to enjoin the merger at issue pending resolution of the FTC’s appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. (Dkt. No. 313.) The motion is DENIED."

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

While the FTC has appealed, there is apparently already a replacement ready for Activision's stock in the NASDAQ 100 index: the Trade Desk. This sounds like the delisting of $ATVI will happen on Monday. Fingers crossed!

Trade Desk to replace Activision Blizzard in Nasdaq-100 index.

www.ainvest.com

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Game over at halftime for @FTC : San Francisco injunction hearing in #Microsoft - #Activision merger case exposes evidentiary and intellectual bankruptcy of misguided agency's case Microsoft won't foreclose, cloud gaming is not a market. End of story.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

30,000 followers. Thanks everyone! 🙏🎇

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

There's just been the first new filing since Thursday on the FTC v. Microsoft & Activision docket... ...but it's just a sealing-related statement by Sony Interactive Entertainment. 😅

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Mic drop. This is the FTC's console theory*s DEATH. GAME OVER! Phil Spencer has at the request of the judge testified under oath that they will not pull CoD from PS. Only clarifies that obviously it also all depends on Sony allowing CoD on PS. 🧵72/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Now that #Sony says cloud gaming isn't displacing consoles anytime soon, it should be even easier for the @CMAgovUK to work out a proportionate remedies package. Or for the @CATribunal to declare a worldwide block irrational. #UnblockABK

FT Technology News

@fttechnews

1 year

Sony chief plays down threat to consoles from cloud gaming

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Someone's going anywhere but not to the San Francisco federal courthouse, depite his company's HQ being only 32 minutes by car from there.

小島秀夫

@Kojima_Hideo

1 year

ジム・ライアンさんと。

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

By now the TRO has really expired. The @FTC must get its act together: it does good work in some fields of consumer protection, but it could do a lot better in antitrust enforcement. The regulatory world's unconstructive outlier is the FTC. Among industry players, that's #Sony .

Lulu Cheng Meservey

@lulumeservey

11 months

The FTC’s desperate attempt to block our merger with Microsoft has been denied again, now by the Ninth Circuit. As the House Judiciary Committee highlighted yesterday, Lina Khan has been 0-4 in merger cases. Despite the FTC’s waste of taxpayer money on protecting the entrenched

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

The FTC's appeal of Judge Corley's PI denial has a docket number: 23-15992 (United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit). It shouldn't take long now before some documents become available. As for wasting taxpayer money, government agencies pay no court fees 😅

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

#EuropeanCommission focuses on consumers, approves #Microsoft 's acquisition of #ActivisionBlizzard --subject to commitments--while UK #CMA won't be able to defend its miscarriage of justice @EU_Competition @vestager @CMAgovUK #antitrust #mergers #eu $ATVI

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

So, what's next? Judge Corley will deny the FTC's motion in a matter of hours. The question is just whether she will state reasons. Tomorrow the appeals court will decide. As I discussed in my Twitter Space, there's only a residual risk that the appeals court gets confused.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The #Microsoft - #GeforceNOW cloud-gaming agreement is not just a contract but as of today actually serving gamers. After the consummation of the #ActivisionBlizzard deal, ABK titles like CoD will be added. The few regulators who are still reviewing the transaction, and the courts

BondSarahBond

@BondSarah_Bond

1 year

Starting today, NVIDIA GeForce Now members can stream Gears 5! With Deathloop, Grounded & Pentiment on May 25. Just the first step in our commitment to making our PC games globally available through a variety of cloud gaming services. More on the blog:

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

California Congressman @KevinKileyCA just asked Lina Khan about Judge Corley's ("a Biden appointee") decision and generally their poor track record of losing and losing, while historically the FTC used to have a high win rate in the courts. 🧵1/2

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The livestream from the Competition Appeal Tribunal of the UK is about to begin. I'll share observations here. The whole world except for two outlier agencies--the FTC loses almost every court case; the CMA issued a crazy merger-blocking decision--approves the deal. 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

9 months

Sounds like a preliminary decision by the CMA is expected next week. I'm optimistic, and I believe there are stronger reasons for it than in late April (when I already hoped that rationality would prevail, but it didn't, at least not then). via @Verge

UK regulators likely to decide on Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal next week.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to issue a preliminary decision on Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal next week, a source familiar with the situation tells The Verge....

www.theverge.com

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

The @FTC did not know what to reply when Judge Corley reacted to a partial-foreclosure argument (exclusive CoD features) with "Like Sony does with Activision?" 1 reason of MANY for which this FTC with its anti-American-consumers anti-American-companies attitude deserves to lose.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

Microsoft's lawyers are putting in a night shift. They just filed the public redacted version of their post-hearing proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. And no doubt they're working on their opposition to the FTC's crazy emergency motion.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

8 months

I get so many messages thanking me for my commentary on the merger, and if there's any that I don't acknowledge, it's not intentional. Interestingly some thank me for almost 2 years of commentary. Actually the vast majority of the gamers following me just joined this year 😁

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The FTC is clearly afraid of losing if all the facts, particularly concerning Microsoft's agreements with Nintendo and cloud-streaming providers and the related EU remedies, are put on the table. It's procedural gamesmanship. They're trying to win by excluding evidence. 🧵1/2

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Day 3 of the FTC v. Microsoft-Activision PI hearing. Judge Corley explains that illegal livestreams of the court's official Zoom audio jeopardize the availability of livestreams for this proceeding and for all other cases. Similar situation here as with the @CATribunal . 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

@FTC Now Judge Corley is also tired of the FTC*s unreasonableness and stupidities; When the FTC lawyer wanted Phil Spencer to also make a commitment under oath for making games available on the cloud, she cut it off by saying she doesn*t need that. FTC on the wrong track! 🧵117/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

The FTC has filed an emergency motion for an injunction with Judge Corley, who will obviously deny it. That is the basis for the FTC to then ask the appeals court for it. It tells us what the FTC's arguments are, will discuss in Twitter Space later 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

8 months

According to the Verge, Friday the 13th may be the day the ABK deal is closed or the closing is announced: Microsoft eyes closing its giant Activision Blizzard deal next week via @Verge I'm not superstitious. Hope you aren't either 😅 🧵1/3

Microsoft eyes closing its giant Activision Blizzard deal next week

Microsoft is getting ready to close its Activision Blizzard deal, with a decision from a UK regulator expected imminently.

www.theverge.com

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Just overheard Phil Spencer @XboxP3 tell a third party's lawyer that this hearing was his first time to be in a courtroom in about 20 YEARS! The lawyer had asked him what the experience was. I obtained permission to share the information here 😅

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The UK government ( @RishiSunak @Jeremy_Hunt ) told the @CMAgovUK even in writing that they must make sure the UK is open for business and regulatory delays don't adversely affect companies. But the CMA still wants a UK that looks like it's closed for business! This is the latest:

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Judge Corley just DENIED a motion by the lawyers who brought the private lawsuit and wanted to join the FTC v. Microsoft & Activision PI proceedings. She reminds them of the fact that she had ruled against them, then explains that it's challenging enough to make a swift decision.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Should the CATribunal determine that the CMA irrationally rejected the proposed remedy (and psychologically it obviously helps that the EU Commission accepted it), then the case is effectively terminated by the CAT decision. Nothing the CMA could do then on remand.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

When all is said and done, the @CMAgovUK will probably look a lot better than the @FTC : The CMA will have achieved some remedies, maintained the integrity of its process, and avoided a crushing defeat in an appeals court. The FTC: "Your tax dollars at work." For what?

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

#Sony Interactive Entertainment will have to defend itself in the @CATribunal on June 7 (= in 2 weeks from tomorrow) -- in the same court in which #Microsoft and #ActivisionBlizzard are appealing or are about to appeal the #CMA 's merger block. It's about the 5 billion UK pounds

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The evidentiary hearing is beginning with the FTC's opening statement (plaintiff always speaks first) delivered by their lead trial attorney, James Weingarten. Phil Spencer is sitting next to Microsoft's lead counsel, Beth Wilkinson. 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Microsoft lead counsel Beth Wilkinson started the direct examination of Bobby Kotick. He starts with an anecdote: his company's history started in this very building where they also have a United States Bankruptcy Court, and they acquired Activision's trademark etc. here. 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

The closing argument in FTC v. Microsoft & Activision Blizzard is about to start. Judge Corley is here, the court is in session, just some administrative clarification by Microsoft lead counsel Beth Wilkinson. 🧵1/X

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

The FTC didn't want to litigate the ABK injunction request in D C. because of the AT&T TW case law there. In the future they won't like the Northern District of California either: Meta-Within and now Microsoft-ABK. Litigate in Alaska or Hawaii? Oh wait, that's also 9th Cir.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

A fair and neutral court -- not only that, it even was the FTC's preference! Microsoft even offered the FTC a "goodie" for litigating this in the District of Columbia because of existing vertical-merger caselaw. And now things are on the right track in the UK as well. Amazing.

Lulu Cheng Meservey

@lulumeservey

11 months

The legal system worked: A fair and neutral court has reached the correct conclusion about Activision Blizzard’s merger with Microsoft based on facts and the law. The judge’s ruling rejects the FTC’s ideologically-driven attempt to prevent a deal that benefits gamers and allows

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

For certain regulators, blocking a major deal is the first choice and they present excuses for not accepting constructive solutions. As those agencies are experiencing now, under the law a blocking decision is the last resort. That's one reason why they're losing in court.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

- They posted pictures of Jim Ryan as a larger-than-life hero. - They celebrated the CMA and the FTC. Some accounts were created or renamed in honor of CMA and/or FTC. - They were trolling many of you (and me) claiming the deal was dead. That's history. Pls be patient now 🧵2/2

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

10 months

CWA president supports ABK deal and says: "At [GDC 2023], a group of video game workers delivered a letter to Sony’s management asking the company to agree to allow its workers to organize free from retaliation and interference. The response? Silence."

A merger that’s good for workers and consumers | TechCrunch

Thanks to the regulatory process, this deal will significantly enhance competition in the video game industry while securing workers' rights and consumer interests.

techcrunch.com

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

In a filing that just became public, Activision Blizzard reiterates the allegation (first made in December) that the FTC's opposition to the acquisition of ABK by Microsoft is "ideologically-fueled" and "nonsensical": "Having purposefully delayed filing a complaint in federal

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

That*s the one I mentioned on Thursday. Courtroom battle-tested.

BondSarahBond

@BondSarah_Bond

1 year

Same jacket. Different day. 🙅🏾‍♀️💚 #XboxGreen

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Interesting development (though not officially confirmed): #Microsoft 's president will meet the UK Chancellor next week to discuss the Activision Blizzard deal. Jeremy Hunt is the high-ranking member of the government who said regulators are independent BUT must be mindful of

Bloomberg UK

@BloombergUK

1 year

Microsoft President Brad Smith meets UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt next week to vent his frustration at Britain's veto of the $69 billion takeover of Activision

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

11 months

The FTC can't succeed with an emergency motion. Mainstream judges will see Judge Corley is one of them. Liberals will see that the ruling is moderate, not "libertarian", plus they see the endorsement from labor unions. Republicans will just laugh if faced with such a motion.

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

1 year

Microsoft has doubled down on the total destruction of FTC economic expert Robin Lee's testimony. Microsoft has filed a public redacted version of a June 26 (Monday) declaration by Chicago professor Dennis Carlton, a high-profile economist. In that document, Professor Carlton

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Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

9 months

Judge Corley entered an order according to which my ABK tweets don't constitute or contribute to a substantial lessening of competition. No kidding. The class-action lawyers behind the so-called "gamers' lawsuit" in SF wanted discovery of Microsoft's communication with me. 🧵1/2

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