Gaming News - Page 129

UK regulators have extended the deadline for their final report on the Activision merger as they weigh concessions from Microsoft.

Following the FTC's loss in federal court, Microsoft and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have paused their ongoing appeals battle in an effort to find a common solution to get the Microsoft-Activision merger approved.

Microsoft is reportedly doing its part to address antitrust concerns by offering a "small and discreet divestiture" around its cloud gaming business. The CMA is currently weighing the offer, and has said that it may need to conduct a new merger investigation should Microsoft and Activision restructure the deal. The parties will not have an opportunity to submit remedies once the CMA issues its final report.

Hogwarts Legacy players will be glad to know they can now push their graphics to the absolute limit with the Ultra Plus Ultimate Visual mod.

The mod comes from "ElAnalistaDeBits", who has posted a video showcasing an epic side-by-side of the differences between vanilla Hogwarts Legacy and the modded version. The mod clearly provides gamers with massive visual improvements in various aspects of the game, such as increased global illumination, reflections, ray tracing, and ambient occlusion.

Hogwarts Legacy already looks fantastic, as showcased by the vanilla version of the game, but with this new mod from "ElAnalistaDeBits," the game's graphics have been taken to a whole new level. However, gamers should know that these graphical improvements will come at a cost to in-game performance. Judging by the massive improvements, it can be safely assumed you will need a higher-end PC to fully enjoy the mod without suffering from low FPS.

Nixxes Software, the PlayStation studio behind ports for previously PlayStation-only games, is behind the upcoming PC release of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. The PlayStation 5 showcase and excellent action platformer was a notable launch-window release for the console due to its use of stunning ray-traced reflections and detail that made it look like a Pixar animation come to life.

In terms of features, the PC version uses all the cutting-edge tech and expands the ray-tracing in the game to support both ray-traced ambient occlusion and ray-traced shadows. And with that, Nixxes has confirmed NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 2, and Intel XeSS support on day one, alongside NVIDIA Reflex and even NVIDIA DLAA. On top of this, there's in-depth visual customization and support for multiple resolutions including ultrawide.

Today we've got the hardware requirements for the game covering everything from minimum specs to the 'Ultimate Ray Tracing' experience in 4K that requires either an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX with the aid of NVIDIA DLSS or AMD FSR. The good news is that the 'Amazing Ray Tracing' experience at 1440p requires an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT - which should present a PS5-like experience.

The Microsoft-Activision merger has a deadline of July 18, but the termination date can be extended and the parties can renegotiate a deal.

Microsoft gave itself 18 months to close its proposed merger with games publisher Activision Blizzard King in the largest-ever video games acquisition in the history of the industry. The deal sees Microsoft buying out Activision shares at a $95 per share premium, culminating in a deal worth $68.7 billion. The merger has been tested by regulators both foreign and domestic, and now the FTC's aggressive pursuit could keep the tech firms from closing before the merger's July 18 termination date.

The FTC is currently appealing its loss in federal court with the aim of temporarily blocking Microsoft and Activision from merging until the Appeals Court makes a decision of the Commission's appeal request. This could take months. The Federal Trade Commission's tactic is seen as running out the clock and pushing the companies towards one of two outcomes: The merger dissolving, and Microsoft paying Activision a $3 billion termination fee, or both Microsoft and Activision extending the date through new negotiations.

UPDATE: Judge Corley has denied the FTC's request. Now it's up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to make their decision.

Following its defeat in the FTC v Microsoft case, the Federal Trade Commission now asks the judge who denied their preliminary injunction request for another separate injunction that would block Microsoft from joining with Activision until after an appeals decision has been made.

Two days ago, the FTC's preliminary injunction request was denied by district judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, a big win that would effectively allow Microsoft to merge with Activision. The temporary restraining order enjoining the two companies expires on Friday night, and the firms are expected to merge over the weekend.

If Microsoft successfully takes Activision off the market in its $68.7 billion merger deal, then other big tech firms could be spurred to snap up studios and maybe even big publishers like Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive.

The outcome of the FTC v Microsoft case caused a stir in the interactive entertainment market, with both EA and Take-Two hitting 52-week highs shortly after the FTC's loss was announced. While the FTC is appealing the federal order in an attempt to stall the Microsoft-Activision merger, the deal could still close as early as this weekend. If it does, then major tech companies could make acquisitions in an attempt to secure a slice of the $200 billion market.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Jefferies managing director Andrew Uerkwitz shares his thoughts on how the merger's completion could spark more consolidation as the pool of available talent continues to shrink.

Former FTC chair and current law professor William Kovacic comments on how Microsoft successfully won over a federal judge and defeated the Federal Trade Commission in the Activision merger case.

Two days ago, federal judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC a preliminary injunction order that the Commission sought to stall the $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision deal. The FTC has appealed Judge Corley's order, and pending the appeal, Microsoft and Activision may combine as early as this weekend.

How was Microsoft able to win over Judge Corley? In a recent interview with Bloomberg Technology, former FTC chair William Kovacic gave key insight into how Microsoft's willingness to make concessions could have persuaded the judge. Microsoft had signed multiple 10-year licensing agreements with major competitors across cloud and console markets in an effort to alleviate anti-competitive concerns. This, combined with ineffective evidence from the FTC, helped secure Microsoft's win.

Following the FTC's big loss in federal court, Microsoft and UK antitrust regulators have paused their ongoing legal battle in appeals court in an effort to find solutions regarding the $68.7 billion Activision merger.

Two days ago, the FTC lost its federal court case against the Microsoft-Activision merger. While the FTC has appealed the decision, Microsoft and Activision may be able to close the deal as early as this weekend. Since UK regulators at the CMA identified similar anti-competitive concerns as the FTC, the CMA is now under intense pressure by opposing the case.

As it looks like Microsoft could close and integrate with Activision in the coming days, UK regulators have agreed to Microsoft's proposal to issue a stay of litigation, or a pause, for their ongoing appeals court battle. The CMA chose to block the Microsoft-Activision merger in April and the tech firms have chosen to appeal the decision in the Competition Appeals Tribunal. Now that appeal has been put on hold.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which is soon to arrive on PC, has had its hardware requirements aired, and we've also discovered that it'll support DirectStorage on PC.

DirectStorage offers speedier load times on SSDs - and better performance in-game with loading assets on-the-fly - so it's unsurprising that there's been a lot of disappointment around how game devs aren't being so quick to adopt it on the PC platform (or even announce the tech for future titles, for that matter).

So far only Forspoken sports DirectStorage, but both Diablo IV and Hunt: Showdown will get it at some point in the future. Now at least we have another game to add to that very brief list.

Microsoft's key management and leadership give official comments on the recent win in federal courts, and also remark on the FTC's recent appeal to the preliminary injunction decision.

Two days ago, Microsoft won a big victory in federal courts. A district judge denied the Federal Trade Commission's request for a specific court order that would have prohibited Microsoft and Activision from merging for many months. The decision effectively saw the FTC losing, and Microsoft winning its bid to acquire Activision for $68.7 billion. The FTC isn't ready to give up yet, though, and has filed an appeal to contest the decision in appeals courts. For the FTC, the race is on--the temporary restraining order that's currently blocking Xbox and Activision from joining together expires on Friday. If the appeals courts do not grant the FTC's emergency order request, then the two tech companies will combine over the weekend.

Over the course of the last two days, we've seen multiple high-profile Microsoft figures speak out on Judge Corley's decision.