Gizmo_Duck
blathering blatherskite!
*copied & pasted form the other place*
INTRODUCTION
As you may have heard, Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard. :p
To do that, they need the legal OK from competition regulators all around the world.
The FTC or the European Commission are the big ones, but for the deal to go through it has to be approved by almost 20 regulators (from Japan, UK, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea, etc).
One of them is Brazil, where the review process started on May 20th.
During this review process, the regulator usually asks third parties about the transaction, to see what they think about it and to contrast that info with the data sent by the parties involved (ABK and MS, in this case).
The government of Brazil is so open about the transparency of the Public Administration, that EVERYTHING from this review process is online, including the third parties questioned and what they answered.
Obviously there is a lot of redacted information for confidentiality reasons, but there is also a ton of interesting data to check.
I've done a recap of the questions been sent to the third parties and their answers. The original documents are in Portuguese but I'm a native Spanish speaker, so it's easy to understand (Google translator has also been very useful). I'm also a lawyer working on IT Law for almost 14 years, including merger and acquisitions processes (that's why I know about these things). :p
THE QUESTIONS
They are the same for every party (I skipped the ones that where specific for the Brazilian market):
- Does your company agree that physical distribution and digital distribution of games should be treated as separate markets? Or would physical and digital distribution compete with each other in the same market?
- Should the digital video game distribution market be segmented by hardware/platform type (PC, consoles and mobile devices) or could it be considered as a single market without segmentation?
- If you consider that the game distribution market should be segmented into more restricted markets, or that it should encompass a broader set of products or services, etc.), present an alternative definition and justify your answer.
- In your company's view, subscription game services (such as Xbox Game Pass) should only be understood as part of a broader market for digital game distribution, or they could constitute a more restricted/specific market from a competitive perspective?
- From the consumer's perspective, are subscription services perceived as direct competitors of individually purchased games, in the "buy-to-play" model?
- There are relevant barriers to the entry of a company in the electronic game distribution market? For the console, PC and mobile markets.
- In the last 5 (five) years, there has been any relevant entry into the distribution market of digital gaming?
- Provide an estimate of the time required to complete a full entry (from the planning phase to the start of the entrant's activities), so that an entrant can be considered an effective rival in the digital game distribution market. For PC, console and mobile.
- An isolated entry into the game distribution market can be considered commercially viable? Or an effective entry into the segment would depend on the concurrent entry or presence in other market(s), such as gaming hardware or the development and publishing of games? For PC, console and mobile.
- The market for physical distribution of games for consoles exerts some competitive pressure on the console game digital distribution market, considering the global and national scenarios?
- Contracts entered into with digital stores usually contain exclusivity clauses, that are limited to a certain period?
- In your experience, the terms of agreements entered into with Microsoft digital stores differ significantly from those practiced by other players in the digital distribution market?
- Does Activision Blizzard publish any title(s) which, due to its characteristics or specificities, does not have close competitors published by other companies in the games?
- In the event that, in the future, Activision titles Blizzard are no longer available to competing Microsoft/Xbox ecosystems, to what extent would competition in the digital game distribution market be affected?
- Your company thinks it is likely that Microsoft will leave to offer Activision Blizzard games on competing digital stores, even though this practice could result in the loss of revenue from sales of these titles in other channels?
- In your company's view, does Activision Blizzard publish any game that can be considered essential for a gaming hardware vendor to work?
- What is the relevance of the existence of exclusive titles in the competitive dynamics of the gaming hardware (console) market?
- It would be possible to expect a significant reduction in the number of sales of rival Xbox consoles in the event of non-availability of Xbox titles from Activision Blizzard for these platforms?
- What is the position of your company regarding to positive/negative aspects of this Merger in relation to the online advertising market in Brazil?
INTRODUCTION
As you may have heard, Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard. :p
To do that, they need the legal OK from competition regulators all around the world.
The FTC or the European Commission are the big ones, but for the deal to go through it has to be approved by almost 20 regulators (from Japan, UK, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea, etc).
One of them is Brazil, where the review process started on May 20th.
During this review process, the regulator usually asks third parties about the transaction, to see what they think about it and to contrast that info with the data sent by the parties involved (ABK and MS, in this case).
The government of Brazil is so open about the transparency of the Public Administration, that EVERYTHING from this review process is online, including the third parties questioned and what they answered.
Obviously there is a lot of redacted information for confidentiality reasons, but there is also a ton of interesting data to check.
I've done a recap of the questions been sent to the third parties and their answers. The original documents are in Portuguese but I'm a native Spanish speaker, so it's easy to understand (Google translator has also been very useful). I'm also a lawyer working on IT Law for almost 14 years, including merger and acquisitions processes (that's why I know about these things). :p
THE QUESTIONS
They are the same for every party (I skipped the ones that where specific for the Brazilian market):
- Does your company agree that physical distribution and digital distribution of games should be treated as separate markets? Or would physical and digital distribution compete with each other in the same market?
- Should the digital video game distribution market be segmented by hardware/platform type (PC, consoles and mobile devices) or could it be considered as a single market without segmentation?
- If you consider that the game distribution market should be segmented into more restricted markets, or that it should encompass a broader set of products or services, etc.), present an alternative definition and justify your answer.
- In your company's view, subscription game services (such as Xbox Game Pass) should only be understood as part of a broader market for digital game distribution, or they could constitute a more restricted/specific market from a competitive perspective?
- From the consumer's perspective, are subscription services perceived as direct competitors of individually purchased games, in the "buy-to-play" model?
- There are relevant barriers to the entry of a company in the electronic game distribution market? For the console, PC and mobile markets.
- In the last 5 (five) years, there has been any relevant entry into the distribution market of digital gaming?
- Provide an estimate of the time required to complete a full entry (from the planning phase to the start of the entrant's activities), so that an entrant can be considered an effective rival in the digital game distribution market. For PC, console and mobile.
- An isolated entry into the game distribution market can be considered commercially viable? Or an effective entry into the segment would depend on the concurrent entry or presence in other market(s), such as gaming hardware or the development and publishing of games? For PC, console and mobile.
- The market for physical distribution of games for consoles exerts some competitive pressure on the console game digital distribution market, considering the global and national scenarios?
- Contracts entered into with digital stores usually contain exclusivity clauses, that are limited to a certain period?
- In your experience, the terms of agreements entered into with Microsoft digital stores differ significantly from those practiced by other players in the digital distribution market?
- Does Activision Blizzard publish any title(s) which, due to its characteristics or specificities, does not have close competitors published by other companies in the games?
- In the event that, in the future, Activision titles Blizzard are no longer available to competing Microsoft/Xbox ecosystems, to what extent would competition in the digital game distribution market be affected?
- Your company thinks it is likely that Microsoft will leave to offer Activision Blizzard games on competing digital stores, even though this practice could result in the loss of revenue from sales of these titles in other channels?
- In your company's view, does Activision Blizzard publish any game that can be considered essential for a gaming hardware vendor to work?
- What is the relevance of the existence of exclusive titles in the competitive dynamics of the gaming hardware (console) market?
- It would be possible to expect a significant reduction in the number of sales of rival Xbox consoles in the event of non-availability of Xbox titles from Activision Blizzard for these platforms?
- What is the position of your company regarding to positive/negative aspects of this Merger in relation to the online advertising market in Brazil?
