Florian Mueller (@Florian4Gamers) / X

Florian Mueller

53.3K posts

Florian Mueller

@Florian4Gamers

Personal views. Played Activision games in the early 1980s, worked for Blizzard in the mid 1990s. Contesto en español también. Je réponds en français aussi.

Monaco

Joined March 2010

Pinned
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Apr 11
It's great to live in a country where environmentalism is rational. Recycling bins, but no insanely granular recycling rules like in brain-damaged Germany. Initiatives to reduce carbon footprint. But also the realism that if yachts, helicopters etc. are banned, they go elsewhere.
2.1K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Jul 11, 2023
WE HAVE THE DECISION! FTC LOST! Microsoft-ABK can close! ". After considering the parties’ voluminous pre-and-post hearing writing submissions, and having held a five-day evidentiary hearing, the Court DENIES the motion for preliminary injunction. The FTC has not shown" 🧵1/X
829K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Jul 15, 2023
Game over for @FTC. The appeals court declines to enjoin the transaction. I went to sleep a little bit because I wasn't lying when I said I was fairly optimistic and there was only a residual risk. 🧵1/X
375K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Jul 13, 2023
Great! Congressman @KevinKileyCA pointed Lina Khan to Judge Corley's finding that the ABK deal will result in more access to games, says the appeal is even less likely to be won by the FTC and wants to know why they're wasting taxpayer money.
199K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Jul 13, 2023
FTC: We appeal. Microsoft: We oppose. CMA: We're playing it smart, preserving our authority while keeping UK open for business. Gamers: What day do we get ABK games on Game Pass?
212K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
May 30, 2023
🇰🇷 BREAKING: #Microsoft's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard has been cleared today by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, apparently unconditionally. This means the deal has been approved by the regulators in charge of 39 countries with a collective population size > 2.4 billion
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
May 28, 2023
It's highly likely that the @CMAgovUK's merger block will be quashed by the @CATribunal on at least one basis. To avoid a remand, the CMA would have to overcome each of a dozen legal/factual issues raised by #Microsoft (and maybe #ActivisionBlizzard will raise more). 🧵1/3
301K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
May 15, 2023
BREAKING The #EuropeanCommission has APPROVED #Microsoft's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard! #UnblockABK Pragmatism has prevailed. Incredible timing: tomorrow the CMA's leadership must justify its regulatory excess in the UK Parliament. FOSS Patents blog post coming shortly.
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
May 15, 2023
The @CMAgovUK's chairman and CEO have to testify tomorrow before the Business and Trade Committee of the UK Parliament on "the work of the Competition and Markets Authority". UK lawmakers will ask questions, hopefully also related to #Microsoft-#ActivisionBlizzard! #UnblockABK
319K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Oct 13, 2023
Here we go: Microsoft is buying #ActivisionBlizzard! $ATVI stopped trading at 7:50 PM Eastern Time. The reason code (T1) means: "Trading is halted pending the release of material news" Only plausible explanation: CMA will clear, followed by announcement of deal closing! 🧵1/4
236K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
May 19, 2023
China's SAMR has approved #Microsoft's purchase of #ActivisionBlizzard! Just got the news from a New York-based financial analyst. This means the deal has been approved in 38 countries with a total population of 2.37 billion people and aggregate GDP of US$42 trillion. 🧵1/2
287K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Apr 26, 2023
The CMA is not preventing something that would damage competition, but is shielding a market leader from competition and preventing a serious challenger to Apple's and Google's mobile app stores from emerging. The CMA has now lost its reputation as a reasonable regulator.
Competition & Markets Authority
@CMAgovUK
Apr 26, 2023
We’ve prevented @Microsoft from purchasing @Activision over concerns the deal would damage competition in the #CloudGaming market, leading to less innovation and choice for UK #gamers. ☁️ gov.uk/government/new…
GIF
223K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Oct 13, 2023
Done deal! Approved. Consummated. Now a reality. The deal that didn't die despite regulatory resistance that had no legally valid basis. The @FTC should reflect now. Tilting at windmills is not the answer
Phil Spencer
@XboxP3
Oct 13, 2023
Replying to @XboxP3
Whether you play on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, you’re always welcome here – even if Xbox isn’t where you play your favorite franchise. Because when everyone plays, we all win. news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/10/…
79K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
May 25, 2023
The EU Commission essentially told the CMA and FTC today: If you want to protect competition through effective remedies, count us in. If you want to block mergers just because you think it's cool, even to the detriment of competition, count us out. The voice of reason.
93K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Jul 11, 2023
Hardly anyone has been more wrong on Microsoft-ActivisionBlizzard than @matthewstoller. He's not really in favor of competition (otherwise he'd see why that merger results in more, not less, competition between certain major players). His behavior is at times unacceptable. 🧵1/4
192K
Florian Mueller
@Florian4Gamers
Jul 11, 2023
Wow! That's the best news.
Brad Smith
@BradSmi
Jul 11, 2023
Our statement on the mutual request with the CMA for a pause of our appeal in the UK:
90K