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Earlier this week, it emerged that the FTC’s case against Microsoft had been summarily dismissed by Judge Corley, at least to the extent that she would not issue an injunction against the Activision Blizzard acquisition. The FTC did not go down without a fight as they appealed and also asked for the takeover to be delayed until after the appeal was decided. As of…well, just moments before I wrote this, stay was denied. So it appears that while the deal goes through, the FTC has not given up on its case.
In addition to Microsoft’s entanglement with US regulators, it is also at the table for new talks with the British Competition and Markets Authority. The CMA said it was open to this following Judge Corley’s ruling, but also announced it was extending the deadline for discussion to August. But as we head into the weekend, it looks like we’re going to see Activision Blizzard under the Microsoft umbrella.
In other news, an investigation by the Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network concluded that 87% of all games made before 2010 are critically endangered – meaning they are no longer easily accessible on modern consoles. I find that number unsatisfactory because the game industry has seemingly resorted to remakes to keep older games on new consoles, but there isn’t enough money in the world to remake each game individually. While I expect some games to be lost over time, as happens with any art form, nearly 90% of the inaccessibility is not acceptable to the average gamer.
In personal news, I think I’m going to try out this Exoprimal game that Microsoft showed. I’m still not quite sure what to think about it, but given that it’s on Game Pass, I think it would be remiss of me not to at least try. Oh, and I’m going to check out Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, because it’s from the creators of Danganronpa and they’re always up for some mystery fun.
What to play this week
What’s new:
- Exoprimal
- Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
- Knurled Alliance 3
- Gravity Circuit
- Testament: The Order of High Man
- Arena breakthrough
- Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
New on subscription services:
- Common’hood (Xbox Game Pass)
- Insurgency: Sandstorm (Xbox Game Pass)
- When the Past Was There (Xbox Games with Gold)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Prime Gaming)
- Nairi: Tower of Shirin (Prime Gaming)
- Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen (GeForce Now)
- Ridiculous Fishing EX (Apple Arcade)
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