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The Xbox-Activision Deal Is Blocked - What's Next? | Defining Duke, Episode 121

As the bad news snowballed for Xbox in recent weeks, it felt like fans could at least hang their hat on the Activision deal seemingly trending in the proper direction. Well, that seems to have gone south too. The UK regulatory body known as the CMA has moved to block the merger of Xbox and Activision due to cloud based concerns. With the FTC and CMA collectively against Microsoft, their sliver of hope rests on the impending decision of the EU regulatory body. Xbox certainly wasn't in a position to rest on their laurels and if the worst comes to pass then it's doubly so the case. Beyond the usual doom and gloom, The Dukes peer into this potential reality where the deal is outright canceled. What is Xbox to do if Activision isn't part of their future? Do they go scorched earth on third party deals or seek internal investment? We won't have to wait long to find out as a potential pin in the balloon awaits us ahead of the 2023 summer showcase for Xbox. Plus, a final gutcheck on Redfall before release, a deep look into the truth behind Xbox's financials, many first party studios have multiple games in development, a surprise update on Gears 6, hands-on impressions with the ASUS ROG Ally, and so much more in this jam packed episode of Defining Duke! Get early access to Defining Duke and all Last Stand Media shows at: https://www.patreon.com/LastStandMedia Get some Defining Duke merch! LastStandMedia.store Follow the hosts! https://www.Twitter.com/G27Status​ https://www.Twitter.com/lordcognito 0:00:00 - Intro 0:04:29 - Reviews 0:08:57 - Correction 0:10:02 - Grounded Update 1.2 is here 0:12:34 - Age of Empires is coming to Age of Empires 2 0:16:05 - Dead Island has surpassed 1 million copies sold 0:19:15 - Armored Core 6 may be launching on August 25th 0:21:37 - Redfall is available for pre-download 0:26:11 - Deathloop was selected over Dishonored 3 0:32:13 - Starfield merch is here 0:35:20 - Microsoft is working on a sequel that will take a decade to develop 0:37:29 - Quantum Break is back 0:39:53 - Alan Wake 2 is nearing completion 0:42:59 - Tango Gameworks has a multiplayer game in development 0:48:03 - Bomb Rush Cyberfunk will release on August 18th… but not on Xbox 0:50:26 - THQ Nordic’s Digital Showcase returns on August 11th 0:53:03 - Compulsion Games may have a second game in the works 1:00:51 - The ASUS ROG ALLY launches May 11th 1:14:37 - Powerwash Simulator is getting a physical release 1:16:30 - Fable is in the testing stages 1:17:29 - Another Diablo 4 beta is on the way 1:18:20 - Bungie’s new PvP game could be built in Unreal 1:23:22 - Gears voice actors don’t know anything about future games 1:31:07 - What have we been playing? 2:01:16 - Gutcheck on Redfall? 2:08:37 - Why do we talk about things that don’t relate to Xbox on an Xbox show? 2:13:26 - The CMA has moved to block the Xbox-Activision 2:59:32 - Xbox says Hi-Fi Rush was a success 3:11:20 - Game Pass Pick of the Week 3:15:36 - Are we okay with AI doing voice work for games?

Comments

PRETENTIEUX

I really don't consider Dishonored an immersive sim. I like the game and finished it twice, but it's really a stealth-action fps with magic and rpg elements. There's nothing particularly immersive about it and just having the ability to pick up, throw, and drop certain objects does not make it a sim. Actually, I think I just realized that the term "Immersive Sim" is redundant and overly descriptive. All of these games are just stealth-action fps games. Whoever coined the term is a genius in marketing. I guess it's better than calling games Deuslikes.

Frank G.

Oh man I've been waiting on this since the news dropped. Ya blocked son! 🏀🚫 Get em Dukes. 🫡

Alex Eddy

Great Episodes Dukes! Food for thought, @ethangach who is a writer for kotaku pointed out some interesting bits from document submitted by CMA on their issues with MS's so called remedies. It poaints a picture that there would be no profit sharing in cloud with MS owning ABK. They would grant access to said content, but any in-game purchases would be direct to MS and no percentage would go to service providers. So like it is now on sotrefronts/platform holders theres 30% to the service providers like Steam, Sony ect. That would go away with the cloud version.

Sorta Serious Gaming

Can definitely understand the immersive sim bit. It really kind of is just a term we use for games that immerse us in their worlds better than others. I think you might be right. Maybe games like Snowrunner or Flight Sim should be what we consider immersive sims, and those other games as just FPS rpgs that do a great job of world building.

Jei Tee

Late to the party, but I'm pretty sure the video that Matty was talking about booting up the OG Xbox for the first time was My Retro Life