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FTC Blames Microsoft for Devastating Xbox Court Document Leak - IGN (www.ign.com)

submitted 1 year ago by Blizzard to c/[email protected]

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

"Microsoft was responsible for the error."

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The leaks emerged from attachments to a single court document uploaded to a website hosted by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the FTC is suing Microsoft over the $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard.

In a new court order posted today, the judge in the FTC vs. Microsoft case, Jacqueline Scott Corley, confirmed that Microsoft seemingly accidentally provided the court with a version of the documents that "contained non-public information" to the link that held public documents in the trial. The documents have since been removed from the link.

What an incredible own-goal. I've felt this acquisition was severely monopolistic from the start, but I know not everyone felt that way. I have to imagine/ hope this helped convince more people how dangerous Xbox/ Microsoft is. Hopefully the acquisition will be blocked now

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What information in the leaks do you think prove how dangerous Microsoft is?

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Primarily the manner in which they contemplated the purchase of Nintendo. It was not presented as wishful thinking, but an inevitability. Microsoft has the money, and all they need is a moment of weakness on Nintendo's part in which to spring a hostile takeover (or at least, that's how the email reads).

The fact that Microsoft could leverage its considerable wealth from being the market leader in a different market segment to buy out an entire competitor that makes up a very significant portion of the gaming market, and that doing so would not be for any reason than to be a feather in the cap of the Phil Spencer makes them very dangerous.

Xbox/ Microsoft clearly have money to burn and are on no uncertain terms willing to use it to bully their way into a monopoly of the gaming market.

Regardless of how realistic their plans to take over Nintendo really are. They think the plan is feasible, and they have the money for it. They are incredibly dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

Don't forget they were eyeing Valve at the same time, not as an "either/or" proposition either. They were comfortable enough with buying both Nintendo AND Valve, and they felt this way while they were in talks to buy both Zenimax AND Tik Tok!

[–] Ubermeisters 8 points 1 year ago

its not to be a feather in a cap. its because if you don't feed your shareholders you are breaking the law. growth IS inevitable, thats the entire backbone of the way this system is setup. Breaking even and providing a good product isn't enough, you have to trend upward always.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That dangerous part was up to the FTC to prove and they couldn’t.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Only due to broken anti-trust laws and precedent in the US based on faulty ideological assumptions from the chicago school.

Any reasonable fair-minded examination free from the shackles of this ideology and precedent would show it to be anti-competitive.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you think Sony isn’t dangerous?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Can you elaborate? As it is, I’m not sure of the need for whataboutism.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This court case with the FTC is really just the gift that keeps on giving. Struggling to think of the last time a gaming company just leaked all this kind of stuff by accident. The mid-gen refresh is surprising given how vocal Spencer has been about not needing one, but it makes sense, especially if they want to push people to go digital only. The talk about buying Nintendo and Valve is concerning. Still, I have a really hard time imagining Nintendo would ever sell out to any company and Valve's current leadership seems against anything like that. Of course, these things can change and Microsoft certainly seems willing to play the long game when it comes to acquisitions like this.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My concern is that if you can drop tens of billions of dollars on a single acquisition, what's to stop you from spending "just" one billion to manipulate the situation to put your target in a vulnerable situation?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That's exactly what Microsoft accuses Sony of doing, and rightly so. But Microsoft using that as an excuse for their acquisition binge is a smartass move, both companies need to quit with their anti-competitive moves.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Microsoft already tried to buy Nintendo in the late '90s and got laughed out of the conference room.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

LOL! MS uploaded the documents to a public server. I'd say someone's losing their job over this, but they're probably gonna get sued too.