Microsoft's fight is over

 The FTC has been beaten

In a turn of events that I think might have honestly been a shock to quite a number of people out there, the FTC lost their court case to validate the blocking of Microsoft's 70-odd billion purchase of Activision, giving the go ahead for what I think might be the biggest tech acquisition in history. Which means, of course, that Bobby can now afford to pay off the next round of lawsuits coming his way for whatever new skeletons are waiting to tumble out of that man's closet. Oh, and that by the time you read this it's very likely that Activision is the newest member of the extended Xbox family and Sony can pat themselves on the back for successful wasting nearly a year of progress that Microsoft could have embarked on with their new beau's. All in all I call this a wholly successful operation for everyone who isn't a regulation body.

In their attempt to try and prove that Microsoft were shooting for some sort of crippling monopoly that would twist the hands of consumers until they were all forced to buy an Xbox, instead FTC uncovered mountains of evidence to suggest the opposite- with a partnership in the works we'd be seeing these games on even more platforms. Heck, one leak even revealed that Call of Duty will be making it's grand return to Nintendo consoles following the wrap-up of this deal, which should fill any veterans of DS Black Ops with a piquant dreadful terror. Activision aren't going to be making any of it's existing franchises private and though the question of cloud gaming was also a raised issue, it seems this first accusation was what the judge of this case leaned heavily on to dismiss the charge.

Of course, this means that now the only governing body with the power to threaten this deal is ours, and I don't think the UK has quite as much pull as the FTC does. That being said, Microsoft managed to come to a mildly amicable middle ground whilst they try to speed along proceedings before the deal's mandatory closing date- so the small ants of a body that makes up our regulatory team can pretend they've won a small victory when Microsoft agree to ship them a Rhode Island hotdog every month or whatever equally as pointless boon our boys will attempt to squeeze out the stone. At this point the only thing that could stop the deal is Microsoft themselves getting cold feet before the altar and bailing which- my god it would actually be really funny if that happened, I kind of want it to now!

Now this means that Microsoft can finally get their hands on the one asset of the gaming market they've never been able to nail down, the one chunk of solid shining money-printing gold they were desperate to spend over 50 billion to ascertain. No, not Call of Duty- Microsoft wanted their hands on that unlimited money glitch called 'already profitable mobile games'. You can bet that mobile market was what the big M was gunning for all this time- how else do they expect to make a profit on a deal this big? I wouldn't be surprised if the next Microsoft direct is filthy with god-awful new mobile adaptations of Activision franchises. Although I will absolutely give them an ironic cheer if World of Warcraft Mobile becomes a thing. I cannot understand why it hasn't already, it seems like an absolute no brainer way to reinvigorate the game's fanbase.

Sony are ostensibly the 'losers' of this little bout, having kicked up a stink about 'anti-competitive' behaviour and showing themselves as petulant hypocrites in the process, whilst uncovering through leaked documents that Microsoft could, should they have a change in heart and morals, utterly eviscerate Sony and buy them out the market. Now it's good for everyone that Microsoft has some handle on their darker selves, but that is quite the axe to suddenly realise was dangling over your neck this whole time. I mean sure, we all knew that Xbox's paymasters were ten times bigger than Playstation's; but I think we all just assumed that Xbox weren't allowed in daddy Microsoft's pocket. Turns out they are, and that's a scary thought for the entire industry come the day that conscientious leaders like Phil Spencer are no longer around to keep the brand somewhat honest.

Of course, Nintendo have skirted all around this entire back and forth despite the very real fact that Nintendo have been peddling their oppressive pricing systems and insular game markets for time immemorial. Brands bigger than COD, such as Pokémon, live only on Nintendo hardware and no one is bothering to kick up any fuss about that! Of course, Nintendo aren't also trying to get into the Game Streaming market, but I'd bet they'd love to give it a shot if they could only figure out how to install their network cables. (I assume that's the reason why Nintendo's severs run like they're constantly on fire) Still, Nintendo gets to be a beneficiary in all this without having to lift a finger as another member of the 'impoverished' who are granted the table scraps that Playstation have been desperate to keep to themselves. 

I imagine for many aspiring politicians out there, sticking it to a company as big as Microsoft would have been something of a 'white whale' moment for them, which could be why this whole back and forth dragged on for so long. I mean why else would the good of the games industry suddenly matter when Microsoft are the one's in the hotseat, and yet not worth so much as a second glance when relative nobodies like Electronic Arts were busy peddling money sucking psychologically primed lootboxes at children with nothing but a stern talking to from Parliament. They literally brought ad space in a children's comic book for Fifa Lootboxes, and then tried to turn around and pretend it was an accidental miscommunication. You know, because everyone out there has accidentally brought freakin' adspace, designed a campaign and then run with that before realising they were only out for milk that morning- what an innocent mistake!

Still, as much as the slowly rising monopolistic gaming entity known as Microsoft gives me pause, I'm glad that the big M is building itself up as more of a competitor in the bout against Sony, because right now having the most powerful console on the market isn't really much of a boast when there's nothing unique taking advantage of all those loss-leading components. If an Activision partnership can bring us one step closer to that world, then I'll begrudgingly support it. Or at least I won't cry foul when Sony are burned in a deal that is no different then something they would ravenously pursue if situations were reversed. Not that Sony are even getting burned, Microsoft have been worlds more accommodating than their competitors would be with that kind of power. Maybe that less-than-obvious approach is what's making Sony so damned anxious.