With the EU approval of the ABK deal, How likely do you think the deal closes this year? Next year? Not at all?

Rand Al News is back!

Bro, how is the CMA saying with a straight face that the "EU's decision would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next 10 years"? That's literally the whole point of the concession. The EU set the terms and conditions by which Microsoft MUST abide by, otherwise they'll be in serious trouble. The CMA could have made that same concession, but no they went straight for the block.

I don’t have a clue why MS are being forced to jump through so many hoops just to buy bloody Activision who publish a bare handful of games a year. It’s their unused back catalogue & unused IP’s that are the gold mine. When has any company been forced to offer free licenses to competitors in order to buy a company? Where was all this nonsense when Disney bought Fox? Did Disney have to offer Fox’s programming to other platforms? Hell no, no one batted an eyelid. This weird obsession with streaming is baffling. Laggy inputs & regular disconnects are not the gold standard for gaming. They’re all freaking out about a future that’s way way off. It’s such a weird situation where offering more choice, better service at a better cost is being made out to be anti consumer. It’s just this “big tech” fear mongering & pandering to those that push it that’s driving all this. Strange days indeed.

Why is it bad if MS become the main player in Cloud Gaming while Sony is the main player in Console Gaming but thats totally fine ?? 🤔

It’s funny how all the Sony fanboys who didn’t care about this deal and where jumping are now having a meltdown 😂😂😂

FTC will get destroyed in court in August anyway and they know it. They'll negotiate or fall a little over 3 months from now... What will the CMA do then? What will MS do?

What is funny is that it's been approved in every other region except for by the CMA so I think it's going to get pushed through either way

Let's be honest. The competition that the CMA wants to protect is Sony.

The EU passed it with the concession that Microsoft put all ABK games on competing cloud platforms, which is what Microsoft has been arranging for months now with various agreements with cloud competitors. Why didn't the CMA make that same concession if they were so worried about the cloud market? HMMM

They should close now. This will force ftc to block it and take it right to fed court and out of their own courts. They can simply leave out ABK games from the cloud and game pass from the UK. Until the appeal process.

I'm pretty sure that some of the regulators that have blocked this deal probably have stock in Sony

The Clown Man Association decision won’t hold water. Way too much criticism going on over them overreaching rn

CMA shelling for Sony is hilarious

Anyone Notice how mbg is mia today after streaming Xbox hate garbage every single day ? 😂😂

Thanks for the update Rand. I appreciate being keep informed.

Dreamcastguy wont be happy. 😂

A real victory would be xbox having a good Triple A game

The CMA is an utter embarrassment to not just the UK but the whole world. I am ashamed to share a country with such a childish and unprofessional group. I'm not a lawyer but the appeal process must clearly show the incompetence of the CMA. You don't need to be a lawyer to clearly see with common sense that the CMA decision was utterly moronic. The CMA feels like a braindead TikTok Influencer channel not a professional deciding force of the United Kingdom

I love the drama, Jim Ryan most not be too happy.

the new season of the ABK drama series is gonna be called "drama between regulators", first it was Jim VS Phil, then Sony VS Microsoft and now it's regulators VS each other lol

With this merger Nintendo might get their first Call of Duty they've had and almost a decade, and steam deck might have official Linux support, maybe

I lost focus of the deal after what the CMA did 4 weeks ago, but now that the EU has approved of the deal, I feel like I can get back on track with it again.

Us in the UK will ultimately lose out because our corrupt self serving government and regulatory body is more for their bank accounts than the public consumer interest

Thanks go out to the EC/EU for showing the CMA how to get a deal done 👍 The CMA needs to be guided and shown how their reasoning for blocking ABK is absolutely incorrect. Their decision was based too much on a very inaccurate Cloud Gaming forecast model. The CMA should be paying much closer attention as to why other regulators already approved the ABK aquisition and hopefully learn something. Thanks Rand

I think the key thing in all of this is that the EU commission wrote they actually did market studies with cloud providers to poll their thoughts. I think it’s important bc I would think no regulating body is an expert in a specific field.. they took the time to put the work in and talk to those who are. And if those who are experts in that field have certain thoughts, good or bad, to take that into consideration. The CMA (maybe they did this too and I missed the report on it) just seemed to come to the conclusion based on what they thought as a regulating body without actually understanding what players in the field think about it.

Well it seems to me that if the CMA doesn't overturn their ruling (which is very possible given the PM's take) that the deal will go through and GamePass will be altered in England so they don't get those games. The CMA ruling doesn't mean MS can't buy ABK, it means they can't sell it in the UK. Or, at least that's my understanding.

I hope the Deal goes through completely somehow so we can have more positive feeling Jez :))))) would be an epic podcast if it happens love the channel and the show

Thanks for the updated news rand. Great video, awesome news and i can't help but laugh because i can just picture the scowl on jim Ryan's face on hearing/reading this news 😂

The EU shit on the CMA 😂😂😂 wow

Thank you this is the best gaming news channel when it is posting. This video was a welcome relief

As soon as I heard this news I was sitting there thinking I wonder where Rand is. And low and behold here he comes.

There is a little bit more than just the companies that have deal with MS. The EC said that the general response from cloud streaming companies was positive and that some of those companies had deals with MS. Meaning that there are companies without a deal (at least yet) that said it was better or not too much of a problem that.

I wouldn't be surprised if the CMA and FTC are consulting Sony Fanboys on Twitter for their rulings.

It was to be expected that the EU would kneel before US corp power, like it often does. But... “The UK, US and European competition authorities are unanimous that this merger would harm competition in cloud gaming. The CMA concluded that cloud gaming needs to continue as a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice in this rapidly evolving sector. Microsoft’s proposals, accepted by the European Commission today, would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next 10 years. […] While we recognise and respect that the European Commission is entitled to take a different view, the CMA stands by its decision.” This isn't over just yet.

So….when is cod coming to Game Pass?

as a sony fanboy i hope this deal will go through so sony will be force to develop an multiplayer fps game like battlefield and COD.

Ofc they would reply fast with more nonsense. The CMA is heavily influenced by Sony.

I think msft will run ABK into the ground but I think they should have the right to acquire them and try not to fail(efficiently releasing quality content).

Super run through RAND - well done

I am 99% sure this deal will go through now. I believe by the end of the year.

Woooo @Rand Al Thor 19 it is good to hear u on video update on the gaming news and now we have yo for rhe FTC

the journalism sensationalism on this was wild. looked like there was no chance according to the youtube 'experts'.

Thanks for the update

Holy crap! the EU just schooled the CMA on how to comprehend their job and what they should be focusing on 😂 amazing!

Sony was never really worried about Microsoft pulling COD, they were always worried about funding Microsoft gaming operations to this significant a level for the foreseeable future. ABK will be a gigantic mosquito funneling billions to a competing platform, every yea. Also, remember the Patcher said this would be the case and CMA will fold.

Have Yens been payed to the CMA for them have this firm stance? It is obvious the 10 year offer is insane for any party interested. Particulary in the tech market where today's tech is basicly last years'

Let’s just hope they move wisely in terms of gaming the consoles wars is corny but red fall was also disappointing but aye we will see

The CMA can’t even do math

We still got people with their chests out believing the deal is still deal because CMA doesn’t wanna budge with their decision. All because of…. Errr Cloud Gaming??? 🥴

The Patreon post seems to be bugged for me. It's telling me to become a member but I am 🤷🏻‍♂️

CMA is incompetent and absolutely mediocre.. EU schooled them... embarrassing 😅

One of the things that CMA and FTC are missing from equation. Free market is only good when investment has already been established and it takes a lot of money. Many have tried and failed because they did not provide a great product with an ever evolving value in the cloud market. Someone has to be a pioneer and show the rest how it needs to be done. A.K.A. innovations... Like Comcast or Xfinity has become a high-speed internet/cable company to wireless cellular service providers, this is an example of expansion of innovation.

Eventually it would purpose teamwork , cooperation and sharing ideas to perform well on both platforms

I thought you didn't want to cover this stuff anymore I find it exciting

let’s stay calm . and hope that what Phil sees can come to be

I'm interested in what Microsoft does with Activision/ Blizzard back catalog of IPs. Cakk of duty is huge, but I don't care one bit for it at all. Maybe we will see some life brought back into some IPs we haven't seen in a while. Also, what happens with WoW D4, etc.

CMA are so salty 😂 I hope the Uk government does something about this.

The music intro and xbox sound are the reasons I'm still watching the videos 😂😂😂

Looks like the check cleared.

Ohhh yeahhh!! (Kool-aid man breaks thru wall)

Is it just me the audio fading out slightly and back to normal often in this video?

Yeah and now the CMA is Jealous 😂😅

It's happening fam! I think it closes in a couple more months. Too many countries approved already, they just need China, South Korea and a few others waiting about and then thy can just close without FTC and CMA. Since CAT appeal will take time and that just stalls ABK too long.

Screw the dragging on. Just close in their faces. FTC case is a joke, let the CMA choke on it and close in their faces. Possession is 9/10 of the law. Come out on stage on June 11 and drop the mother load on gamepass. Let them try to unroll it, xbox will already have captured mindshare. Gotta fight in the trenches. Sony made this game play out this way. Shame…

I just want good games on my consoles, not sure if this applies to me lol

What the heck, they can have this one. I’m curious to see what MS does with the Xbox division assuming the deal goes thru.

EC wants to accelerate the cloud gaming market, the CMA wants the cloud market to form out of the primordial soup

Rand al'Sarcasim at the end lol

Only approved in the EU. The UK rejected it and the US won't give an answer until next year. They need ALL 3 to say yes for it to happen so.....no its not happening yet at all.

There has to be a catch, there has to be some sort of exclusivity, otherwise this deal makes no sense

when the FTC blocks the deal its game over for Microsoft. Xbox fans taking a victory lap because the EU approved the Activision Blizzard deal, I wonder if these Xbox fans realize the EU approving the deal doesn't really change anything when it comes to Microsoft's fight against the CMA.

Either way, after this ABK deal is over i think they need to try and grow in japan. With nintendo and microsoft seemingly having a good relationship, i think they should port almost every xbox game that can run on switch(or switch 2). It would help them get some sales and foothold in japan. Plus you could start to build fans in that region for xbox characters and brands.

Excuse my ignorance, but what game is playing in the background, is it Diablo IV? It looks brilliant!

Hi everyone yes everyone need a tapes in the back and enjoy this week new let's go

я из россии и ты большой молодец , приятно тебя слушать продолжай в том же духе

After the dumpster fire that Redfall was we needed some good news. Stick call of duty in the cloud so I get the storage space back.

Great perhaps they finally now can sort their shit out and deliver on their promises.

What a headache over sustainable gaming privileges, like everyone with a title , imagine doing this type of arguing over a different title . And the only confusion would be raise the question why ?

So, does that mean cma and ftc will approve it now that eu approved it?

2 reasons to not want the deal to go thur Envy for getting popular games for a fix price ( Sony having to find a replacement and start their own game pass service potentially) and concern for the future of game design IE Halo Infinite open world vs Classic games like Gears although that’s barley a point because new classic games have been made for game pass and where the Majority of game pass money gets funded towards are any on these reasons good reasons?

I was just looking for this video from you 😂 gg xbox🎉

Console wars:Eu strikes back!

Go Lulu !

Should have said EU approved the deal isn’t done until the CMA approves

This week's podcast is gonna be spicy 🤣

When Cod is starting on a Playstation 5,will there be written: Xbox game studios?????

Redfall just got a graphic upgrade. Looks pretty good. Enemy AI is still a bit doopy, but it is actually fun.

The CMA are salty because the Prime Minister is about to shake their world up. It may or may not be about MS and ABK directly but since he annouced the 'governments strategic steer to the CMA' is coming soon last week. And since the Tories just love big bussiness. I'm not ruling out an entire reversal. Not agreeing or disagreeing with it. Just saying I can see it coming.

Its unfortunate for Sony. Since they have out right said none if their devs can't hold a candle to Activision aka CoD

It's gonna happen.

Great news now I can get Diablo 4 with gamepass

I would try to look for videos to hear different stuff I was watching videos like this since day one I don't see how anybody could get tired of covering this stuff if I was a KZfaqr I'll be covering every been in piece of news that I could this is so exciting

can this just go through already? really don’t want to buy multiple copies of diablo 4, though i will

Diablo 4 and the previous Diablo games on Geforce Now? Yes please 👍, I wouldn't say no to a bit of Call Of Duty on the cloud either. If the deal goes through then the Geforce Now library will go off the scale.Hopefully this win convinces Microsoft to give Halo and Forza some love.

Dudes be calling any a victory just for a quick win 😂😭🤣

What is that game playing doing the video

I would just call CMA bluff and just pull out the UK market when it comes to this deal and just not sell those games in that market. Let’s see how long CMA will keep the same energy. Too many gamers in the UK will have a uproar about it and backlash that the CMA will change ship. I give it less than a year before they switch up.

Lulu murdered the CMA with those tweets

This is wild. This is the first time in several months that I can say that I truly find all this interesting again. I am genuinely curious how this will all play out now. I feel like all eyes are intensely focused on the FTC now.