Serbia approves of the Microsoft Activision buyout

First it was Saudi Arabia, then it was Brazil, and now Serbia has approved of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to Reuters, “The deal has been cleared unconditionally in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Serbia”. Link below:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/microsoft-likely-offer-eu-concessions-soon-activision-deal-sources-2022-11-28/

Another link if you want two sources confirming this:

https://games.mxdwn.com/news/microsoft-to-offer-concessions-to-eu-regulators-and-sony-as-serbia-approves-of-the-activision-blizzard-deal/amp/

This is looking more and more positive for Microsoft. I can’t wait to play Call of Duty on Game Pass. I will even play the older titles. Also Crash Bandicoot and Spyro will also be there, in addition to Diablo 4 etc. What are your thoughts on this?

As for other territories, Microsoft might be offering concessions such as 10 years of CoD for PlayStation.

A sad day for Jim crying Ryan and cows,one step closer to PlayStations biggest and best selling game being a Xbox studios game,and when most people buy a PlayStation it will be for Xbox studios cod

Not much. Don't care about Microsoft or the games that are affected. It's probably generally bad for the industry though, but again, don't care much.

@Litchie: I guess you are right when you say it’s bad for the industry. But I would still prefer Microsoft to purchase Activision rather than Tencent, Amazon, Meta or whichever big companies to do it.

I recall rumours earlier this year saying that several companies were interested in acquiring Electronic Arts: the rumoured companies were Amazon, Apple, Disney and some others. Good thing that hasn’t happened. EA is big enough as it is.

Ah yes, the regulatory superpower that is Serbia.

The regulators that really matter on this are US, EU and China. Until we hear from them, this is still up in the air.

@madrocketeer: Microsoft can easily win over US and EU regulators by agreeing to support Call of Duty on PS5 for several extra years.

As for China, they won’t care much about PS5 since the console market is small over there. China is more focused on mobile gaming (a market where Microsoft is practically non-existent). So they wouldn’t have much to fear from Microsoft owning Activision.

Lems getting really desperate for some good news 🤣 good for the 5 people who bought an Xbox in Serbia.

It's all over but the cow tears from here on out. :P

This is good news for Sony becoming the next Sega. Go buy more Chinese companies you pos evil dictator.

@lavamelon: As tempting as the Chinese market is I don't think western companies should see it as a priority. It a nice extra that could be gone at any moment because some evil dictator is butthurt about some random thing.

Heck yeah!

@kathaariancode: Yeah I remember how Xi Jinping was angry because somebody made a comment saying he looked like Winnie the Pooh, so he banned the Winnie the Pooh cartoon or something like that.

Great news for sure. Cows are trembling!

This. Though only EU and UK might be the real blockers. US has no teeth against corporations.

You should have used Ukraine as an example because Latvia is in EU.

Serbia pro gamer confirmed!

Wonder how many folk Activision is paying off behind the scenes.

This is what SW has come to... creating threads for when individual countries approve a business acquisition.

That would be unfortunate, as I grew up with Nintendo and Sony... and Sega. Lol. So I suppose I'm used to one going down the gutter. Still, I wonder if we would see someone else come into the console sphere and actually succeed. Google tried that with Google Stadia, I believe it was? And remember Ouya? Lol

@BassMan said:

This is what SW has come to... creating threads for when individual countries approve a business acquisition.

It could be worse. It could be a bunch of lems and cows going at it day in and day out.....

Everybody knows Luxembourg is the real deal breaker!

@BassMan: 🤣 🤣 anything to piss off the cows. 3 down, 150 more to go heck yeah

I had to wonder whether many posters on this forum can locate Serbia on the world map.

Sooner this is over either way, the better.

It will only get worse after MS buys Activision. There will be threads for years with cows port begging for every single game they make, and lems will be fighting the games to stay exclusive with every beat of their heart.

I think things will get better. Its obvious the playstation has far more exclusive titles and these titles are more sought after (outside of halo). On top of that, sony commonly signs exclusivity agreements with huge 3rd party developers like SE, konami, atlus and more. Once the AB deal goes through, I expect a lot of that nonsense to stop, and the field to be more level.

(Just quietly sits here and wait for MS/Activision deadline to go through or not)

Would be nice to get some kind of sticky thread just to keep up these kinds of approval for this deal cause making threads out of these gets boring. Would be nice to just wait for the deadline next year but this is all my opinion so pay no attention to me😒

If individual countries in Europe start approving the deal (Serbia is not part of the EU yet), it makes it more likely the central EU commission will approve it.

Well if the corrupt Saudi Arabia government AND the booming market in Serbia approve then there's no way some small time operation like the FTC moves to block this.

Crap is crap regardless of who publishes it and Xbox fanboys refuse to acknowledge the fact that Activision-Blizzard is peak shit these days and has been for years and years now.

The dichotomy between Cows and Lems panicking about this deal is the only entertaining thing about all this.

If Serbia had concerns about the deal cows would be wanking into their socks..simple facts

However it's meh Serbia damage control 🤣

Sony and cow reaction over this deal has been monumental,the absolute desperation from a company (Sony) and it's lying head of milking Jim lying Ryan have been a joy to behold..

I wouldn't count your ducks just yet. Rumor has it there is a halt-a coming from Malta. Turbulent times, my friends 😝

People study in Amerika? :P

From the Serbia decision,

“The Commission assesses that the concentration will not have negative vertical effects either, bearing in mind that, according to the information in the application, Microsoft did not sell Xbox consoles in Serbia, and that the market shares of the participants in the concentration on the video game publishing market individually and collectively.”

Oh, and this…

The Swedish Pension Fund AP7 is apparently suing Activision Blizzard and Microsoft for the acquisition.

“A Swedish state-run pension fund sued Activision Blizzard Inc. and Microsoft Corp., claiming their planned $69 billion merger was rigged to exploit the beleaguered gaming giant's sexual harassment crisis and protect its CEO.

The 205-page complaint also targets embattled Activision chief Bobby Kotick, plus current and ex-members of its board. It accuses them of engineering an underpriced deal in exchange for terms allowing Kotick to stay at the helm, at least until the transaction closes after a drawn-out regulatory review.”

nonsense, the share price at $90 per share was significantly worth more than what AB was worth. It was sitting at $45 per share in March 2019, and it went up to $55 or so prior to covid, when all stocks rose. Bobbys issues had no effect on the stock price, heck his sexual assault issues were well known, and go back to the 1990s.

On top of that 98% of shareholders approved the aquisition.

It'd be a real pity if they couldn't get Vatican City

some people simply can't help but expose themselves.. 🤡

This is true. Hopefully they don't expose themselves in other ways....😂

Haha!

*BREAKING NEWS*

Apparently, the seasonal assistant night manager, Todd, at the 3rd best Topeka Shoe Carnival, is thinking about pulling his support for the merger. When asked about the ramifications of such a monumental decision, he had this to say; "What?". Very insightful, and leaves us with plenty to mull over. Stay tuned, as we continue to follow this developing story.

Lems blatant desperation for this shows how much MS sucks at gaming.

Per the suit,

“Although Activision investors approved the transaction in April, they weren't shown certain critical deal details before the vote, the suit says. That would make consummation of the merger—which is still awaiting antitrust clearance—a violation of Delaware corporate laws, according to the complaint.”

and we can all smell your desparate cow tears over this happening.

this is a bs suit, they all saw the details, these guys are just bsing hard because vast majority of shareholders wanted it. These guys are clowns, and theres always one or two of them in every aquisition.

That will STILLS sell better on the PlayStation. At this point, MS will be the best suited for 3rd party support.

So, we are still ignoring that fact that Game Pass, and Xbox aren’t sold in Serbia? So Serbia clearing the acquisition means what exactly?!?!

They needed approval.

Nah. It will have bigger on Xbox, Microsoft Windows PC and mobile. When COD was associated with Xbox it sold bigger there. But this will grow Game Pass too.