It's a little bit of a dog and pony show to show us plebes that antitrust is still taken seriously in DC. If we were actually serious about antitrust we'd see the relevant federal agencies go after meat processing, media conglomerates, and ISPs for starters.

That’s the point, it’s a “show” they can’t or won’t stop other actual consequential mergers due to lobbyist/etcetera. This scenario makes it seem like they have “teeth” and are actually “sticking it to big tech” when it reality they are not and are completely toothless. It’s a gaming company and MICROSOFT. it’s the perfect Unicorn that no one important enough cares about so they get to look “tough” on “big tech”….

> why waste taxpayer dollars trying to stop this under the guise of antitrust?

Regardless of which "side" you're on, I believe it's important for investigations like this to get the real face of the corporations out for the public to see. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have a history of doing some shady, anti-competitive shit.

If we don't at least investigate these sorts of deals, the public only hears what the companies want them to hear. These companies didn't become massive by "playing fair" and they're very good at laundering bad reputations

My opinion: Microsoft deserves the level of scrutiny being laid against them. They have a history of using M&A as a cudgel to force industries to kiss the ring and crush competition

Stop and listen to yourself a moment. Why would Microsoft waste all that time, money, and effort? Microsoft will have to pay Activision a $3 billion break up fee if they can’t get the deal closed for any reason.

The truth is that Microsoft is very obviously waging a lobbying battle behind closed doors while also waging a public relations battle. And look at how many good little fans come out of the woodwork to lap up their bullshit just because they hope Activision—one of the largest publishers in the world—will have their games “for free” on Gamepass.

Microsoft is trying to appease watchdogs by making very public gestures to support competitors for at least 10 years. But that doesn’t mean much because Microsoft is becoming a gaming as a service company. Sony can’t compete there yet and seem so very dedicated to platform lock-in since they are too dysfunctional to compete. Nintendo occupies its niche and not much else, let alone offer a real competitive service to anything MS is trying to do. I mean—have you tried Nintendo’s online services? Whole division should be turned inside out for the gross incompetence.

Microsoft is going for lock-in. That is why they have slyly allowed Xbox live gold conversions to get 3 years of Gamepass for basically nothing. It is why you can get a console with Gamepass and pay a single monthly fee in a lease to own scheme. They are abusing their position and locking people in. Azure alone makes more profit than Xbox entirely generates as revenue.

And people think the gravy train will never end 🙄

I'm absolutely not a "both sides are the same" guy but antitrust has not been a big priority for any of the presidents for probably as long as I've been alive. I'm not plugged into the antitrust law sphere at all but it feels like Microsoft back in the early 2000s was the last high profile antitrust case. Maybe there have been big ones that I'm not aware of but the trend has been for decades that big companies get bigger and gobble up smaller companies with little to no resistance.