Microsoft acquires ZeniMax Media (Bethesda, id Software, Arkane + 5 more) [2020-09-21, 2021-03-09]

Apple has already been successfully prosecuted under the Sherman Act for antitrust behavior despite not having a monopoly on devices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Apple_Inc.

And the EU has opened two antitrust investigations into Apple despite them having even smaller market share than in the US. https://www.engadget.com/apple-pay-app-store-eu-antitrust-investigation-launch-112808905.html

 

It looks like Apple may not have had a monopoly in that case but they where prosecuted as part of a group that did have a monopoly.

 

Civil trials can be held over anything, whether there is a basis in law or not but the way a trial if brought and the type of court it is heard in, is important. Anti-trust legislation in the US is Federal law and presided over by the FTC. They are the arbiters of official investigations and prosecutions if they assess a party has breached the law. In the US it's highly common for civil suits to be predicated on federal law but I'd say that's more reflective of the litigious nature of business in the US.

Not a prosecution, a civil filing. Prosecutions are bought by law enforcement, State and Federal authorities.

And if Apple and Google were to conspire, that would be grounds for investigation. But the 30% cut that many digital platforms charge is a lazy adoption of the brick and mortar retailer charge.

Yes, but you presumably don't wish to punish a business for being successful? That just sounds un-American.

Again, this is focusing in Apple's weirdly successful business model. Just because this is the case isn't a reason to punish Apple. Apple have a relatively small customer base of high-paying customers much like any premium brand or company in pretty much every sector of society and business: property, food, cars, electronics and clothing. What is important is that Apple did this fairly, which presumably they did.

The solution for apps developers is also easy. Fuck Apple, drop them like a stone and go Android-only. A lot of Apple customers would leave Apple is the top 20 service apps on iOS disappeared, i.e. Facebook, Amazon, Spotify, Netflix, Google etc. There are many other places to go for alternatives to Apple devices.

The ebook case was a conspiracy between Apple and publishers, which did represent a monopoly. Very different. And the EU undertake many anti-trust investigations, they are mandated by EU legislation to investigation whether there is a sufficient number of complaints. The majority of investigations go no further than investigations, many don't even warrant a published reports.

 

Easy!!!!!
They just need nearly all the major app developers to agree to do something, and leave money on the table now for 'maybe' some more money later

Mate we cant even get ppl to to agree if it the world is round

 

How round are we talking?

Spoiler

I believe the world is an oblate spheroid, and there ain't none o' yer fancy perfectly round Earth nonsense that could convince me otherwise...

 

On this week's Crate and Crowbar they classified MS's pre-Zenimax purchases as mainly small mid-tier studios and Bethesda as the biggest mid-tier studio. Rather than going the premium Sony route they've doubled down on mid tier.

They weren't slagging off Bethesda. It's just that thing of their games being a trade off between the good stuff and a massive amount of jankiness.

 

I don’t think there is a perfect spherical thing in the universe, iirc some diamond thing recently dicsovered (look up later)
If you wanna go pedantic it’s not even an oblate spheroid, Due to mountains

Edit ok there is nothing to do with diamonds, I misremembered,
https://www.sciencealert.com/scient...the-most-perfect-sphere-in-the-known-universe

between the equatorial and polar radii of the star is only 3 km - "a number that is astonishing small compared to the star's mean radius of 1.5 million km; which means that the gas sphere is astonishingly round", they report.

3/1500000 doesn’t seem that round, I’m surprised they can’t do better in a lab

 

Lol that certainly describes Bethesda games well.

So for example something like the horrible legacy of Gamebryo, given Bethesda's propensity for building on crap, will Microsoft invest in massive overhauls or ensure cheapest development path to start recouping this overpriced studio purchase?

 

No. The big 6 pubs only had 48% of the market at the time.

LOL. In fact, these pubs and Apple got in trouble for basically trying to strong arm a monopoly. Amazon sold 90% of all ebooks but used their market position to force pubs to sell books at prices the pubs deemed too low.

You don’t need a monopoly to get hit with an antitrust suit. The gov’t just need to show that a company is negatively affecting the overall market. Thereby harming consumers as a whole in the process.

 

Spoiler

WGS84 right? But what geoid model are you using EGM2008? Been a while since I have done any GPS land surveying.

Tommy McClain

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...iciaries-of-microsofts-acquisition-of-zenimax

"If the strategy works, it will be a brilliant counter-move against Sony. Users from around the world will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this deal. I wish them well."

Corporate bs and an oxymoron

 

I said it was easy (and it is), I didn't say it was without risk or consequence.

 

MS just aquired bethesda so they can use gamebryo for halo infinite.

 

ugh

 

Well MS has Inxile , Obsidian , Playground and now zenimax

Between them we have Bards Tale series , Torment , Wasteland , Avowed , Outer worlds , Fable , Fallout , Elder Scrolls , Starfield , Arkane studios new mmo , Elder Scrolls online.

If I was MS my long term goal would be to get them all on a single engine so they can all share content like textures and models. This is a huge mount of RPG type content 11 titles and you don't agree with the 2.5D like Torment and wasteland its still 9 titles

 

???

They are hiring for a UE4 engine programmer with online / live service experience. I'd kind of hope it's a resurrection of The Crossing. Deathloop seems to have borrowed some of those ideas though.

Curious engine switch for them. They've been on Id tech/Source previously.

 

Dear god no! Look at EA as an example for what happens when you try to use the same engine for competely different games

 

sorry wrong team

I think using the same engine for the same genre is not a large issue. How many different types of games are on unreal engine ? What are the issues there ?

 

They do have some tech wizards at Bethesda, expecting it to look spectacular.

 

I think he is talking about DICE and Anthem and the Anthem team getting told they need to develop using DICE and they didn't like it and that it was part of the mess that they had.