https://www.ign.com/articles/ftc-blames-microsoft-for-devastating-xbox-court-document-leak
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has pointed the finger at Microsoft for today’s huge Xbox document leak that has seen a long list of revelations about unannounced hardware and games.
"Microsoft was responsible for the error."
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
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.
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!
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.
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.