While US District Judge Jacqueline Corley dismissed the case, she also gave the plaintiffs 20 days to refine their lawsuit and resubmit it, and the group’s lawyer, Joseph Saveri, said that there are plans to officially submit an amended lawsuit with “additional factual detail” that will address the judge’s concerns.

It marks a victory for Microsoft, but their battles are far from over as they still face a hearing over the Federal Trade Commission’s legal complaint, which is currently slated to take place in August of this year.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard originally expected the transaction to be complete by June 30, 2023.

The post California Judge Dismisses Gamers Lawsuit Filed Against Microsoft appeared first on Sudairy.

The preliminary hearing for the suit will proceed on March 23rd.

The suit, which was filed back in December 2022 by Alioto Law Firm and the Joseph Saveri Law Firm on behalf of their plaintiffs claimed: “Activision Blizzard is thus a massive and vigorous competitor in the industry, already demonstrating its willingness to compete in new markets”

Furthermore, the suit stated “That competition may be irreparably lost if the acquisition is allowed to proceed.”

You can stay tuned here or over at the Law Firm news outlet Legalchk.

The post Judge Blocks Microsoft Request to Pause Gamer-Led Lawsuit appeared first on Sudairy.

Furthermore, Microsoft says they’re “[not] asking the FTC to ignore competition concern”, according to The Verge.

“As we enter a new year, we remain committed to creating the best workplaces we can for people who make a living in the tech sector,” the beginning of the ad states. “When both labor and management bring their voices to the bargaining table, employees, shareholders and customers alike benefit.”

The ad states that Microsoft’s union formation is “in keeping with new groundbreaking labor neutrality principles that the Communications Workers of America and Microsoft established last year.”

“During 2023, we hope to bring the same agreement and principles to Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft has proposed to acquire,” it continues.

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The suit was filed by 10 plaintiffs from California, New Mexico and New Jersey, and they seek to obtain an order to block the acquisition deal from moving forward due to antitrust concerns regarding it.

According to Reuters, the filings claim Microsoft would gain “far-outsized market power in the video game industry, with the ability to foreclose rivals, limit output, reduce consumer choice, raise prices and further inhibit competition.”

Additionally, Joseph Saveri, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, stated: “As the video game industry continues to grow and evolve, it’s critical that we protect the market from monopolistic mergers that will harm consumers in the long run.”

The post Gamers Sue Microsoft Over Activision Merger appeared first on Sudairy.

According to Windows Central, the survey suggested that a potential $3 subscription tier offering come with features, such as allowing users to play new first-party Xbox titles six months after launch, and would include Xbox’s slate of exclusive titles as well.

Multiplayer and EA Access games would also be accessible in this new potential tier offering.

With Game Pass reportedly falling short of it’s target in growth, back in October, it makes sense that they are exploring new tier offerings.

The post Microsoft Gauging Interest in Xbox Game Pass Ad-Supported Tier appeared first on Sudairy.

The project, known as Keystone, as the topic of conversation as Spencer was interviewed on an episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast.

“The console we built that now people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside, and we decided to focus that team’s efforts on delivering the smart TV streaming app” Spencer explained.

Microsoft announced a partnership with Samsung earlier this year to bring an Xbox Cloud Gaming app to Samsung’s Smart TVs and Spencer said that the company is “really happy with the results there” thus far.

Spencer added that Xbox is “still focused” on the project but that pricing has proven to be difficult as they try to align it appropriately within the market.

“I don’t want to announce pricing specifically, but I think you’ve got to be $129, $99, like somewhere in there for [Keystone] to make sense in my view, that we just weren’t there,” Spencer said. “We weren’t there with the controller. And I love the effort. The reason it’s on my shelf is the team rolled up their sleeves and in nine months they built that thing. And a bunch of us took it home and it worked. It worked really, really well.”

The post Xbox Explains Decision to Abandon Plans for Keystone Streaming Console appeared first on Sudairy.

“Considering the huge popularity of Call of Duty, it is reasonable to infer that if Activision Blizzard games were no longer available on Sony consoles, PlayStation users could decide to migrate to Xbox, or even a PC, to continue having access to franchise games,” CADE said in an official statement. “On the other hand, it’s also reasonable to assume that if upcoming Call of Duty games became exclusive to the Microsoft ecosystem, players loyal to the PlayStation brand could simply abandon the series, migrating their demand to other games available on their favourite console.”

Brazil is the latest to approve Microsoft’s proposed acquisition and it comes on the heels of Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Competition’s decision back in August that it had “no objections” to the deal.

The post Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition Approved by Brazilian Regulator appeared first on Sudairy.

A number of Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring will get to check out the proposed changes as the Xbox team explores different strategies. Some of the new changes include a “Jump back in” row which will give users quick access to most recently played games and apps.

The Xbox Team is also exploring new game channels and collections , and the ability for users system apps like Settings, Store, Search, and My Games & Apps as they will have dedicated tiles on Xbox Home.

The new Xbox Home experience is slated to launch sometime in 2023.

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Microsoft has a deal in place to buy Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind Call of Duty, for around $69 billion, but the deal has been scrutinized by competitions regulators, including the UKs Competition and Market Authority, with concerns that Microsoft could end up “withholding or degrading” Activision Blizzard works from other consoles or even subscription services.

Ryan spoke out about the offer.

“I hadn’t intended to comment on what I understood to be a private business discussion, but I feel the need to set the record straight because Phil Spencer brought this into the public forum,” Ryan said, according to Gamesindustry.biz.

“Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers. We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle.”

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As part of a document sent to Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) to justify its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company claimed that Sony actively attempts to “inhibit growth” of Game Pass by trying to prevent content from landing on Game Pass.

“Microsoft’s ability to continue expanding Game Pass has been obstructed by Sony’s desire to inhibit such growth,” the company said in the documents. “Sony pays for ‘blocking rights’ to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass and other competing subscription services.”

Additionally, Microsoft called Sony’s concern regarding the potential that Call of Duty could become an exclusive Xbox title “incoherent”, pointing to Sony’s own exclusivity strategies related to Playstation.

“It only reveals, once again, a fear about an innovative business model that offers high-quality content at low costs to gamers, threatening a leadership that has been forged from a device-centric and exclusivity-focused strategy over the years,” Microsoft said.

The post Microsoft Accuses Sony of Paying Game Devs to Stay Off Game Pass appeared first on Sudairy.

“This is an exciting day for Xbox. Today we officially complete the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks” Spencer wrote. “It’s an honor to welcome the eight incredibly talented development studios – Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios – and their passionate global communities to the Xbox family. Now that everything is official, we can begin working together to deliver more great games to everyone. At every step building toward this moment, I’ve been inspired and motivated by the creativity, insight, and community-first approach of the talented people at Bethesda. Our goal is to give these teams the best foundation for doing their greatest work and to learn from them as we continue to build Xbox into an inclusive platform for all players.

This is the next step in building an industry-leading first party studios team, a commitment we have to our Xbox community. With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”

Spencer went on to say that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including “some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”

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It has been officially announced that the Microsoft Flight Simulator Partner Program will be included in the game and will let third-parties sell their creations, such as mods, on Microsoft Flight Simulator.

“We firmly believe that the new built-in Marketplace provides a great opportunity for you to reach more customers than you may be able to reach today,” said Asobo Studio in the announcement. “Our goals and aspirations with Microsoft Flight Simulator are to further expand on the success of FSX, which has sold millions of copies, and that even more people will experience the simulator through Xbox Game Pass for PC.

“The Marketplace allows simmers to purchase content without ever leaving the simulator, resulting in significantly reduced friction to complete a purchase.

“The Marketplace will operate under an Agency model, which means that you, as the content creator, will set the price for every piece of content you submit. Becoming a partner doesn’t alter your ability to sell your content on your own websites and storefronts. Just like with FSX, you can continue to sell your content outside of our Marketplace. Becoming a Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace Partner essentially unlocks another channel for you.”

You can submit an application for the Marketplace Partner Program by clicking here.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is scheduled to arrive on PC on August 18th.

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It’s a good response to current times, with a number of people now forced to work at home due to COVID-19 and associated Stay-at-Home orders and quarantine practices.

“By giving developers access to our PC Content Test App (PC CTA) they can remotely connect to their Xbox Development Kits from their PC, allowing them to test, play and iterate as if they were in the office. It also prevents them from having to download daily builds to local hardware in the home, which can often take hours,” Microsoft stated.

Infinity Ward, Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Rare, Turn 10, Undead Labs and Eidos Montreal are among some of the major studios that have been using this technology since it went live.

“Using the PC Content Test app enables us to bring back our old workflows wholesale. Installs to kits on-site are now minutes rather than the hours it takes to download remotely, and we have the flexibility to react when something goes wrong,” Rare’s technical director Sean Davies said.

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Halo 3 has been a favorite among the original Halo trilogy, and is popular based on it’s multiplayer function, which kept fans coming back for more and more.

A July 14th debut builds some buzz ahead of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X showcase that is scheduled for July 23rd, where the company plans to show off first-party games, which includes Halo Infinite.

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Microsoft recently unveiled the Halo: Fireteam Raven , which is an arcade version of the popular franchise shooer and will be housed in a giant, coin-operated arcade machine.

343 Industries, Raw Thrills, and PlayMechanix to bring this to life and it touts a 130-inch 4K screen that lets up to four players play at once.

In case you’re wondering, the game is set in the timeline of the original Halo: Combat Evolved and Fireteam Raven are a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) that fight alongside Master Chief and the UNSC against Covenant forces.

“Arcade games are a wholly different challenge compared to console and PC gaming, and we’ve learned a tremendous amount as we worked with Raw Thrills to make this happen,” says Kiki Wolfkill, Head of HaloTransmedia at 343 Industries.

Take a look at the full video trailer below:

The post Meet Microsoft’s New Halo Arcade Game appeared first on Sudairy.

Microsoft will still be appearing at E3, but all the major stuff will take place across the street from the Los Angeles Convention Center, the site of E3, to the Microsoft Theater in LA Live for what the company is referring to as it’s “biggest E3 showing ever.”

Microsoft’s E3 press conference will kick things off on Sunday, June 10, at 1 PM PT, followed by Xbox FanFest events, hands-on demos for E3 attendees, and much more.

“Not only does the Microsoft Theater allow us to centralize our Xbox presence at E3, but its size enables us to include even more fans and partners in the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing than ever before,” corporate VP Mike Nichols wrote in an Xbox Wire post.

Microsoft won’t be absent entirely from the official E3 show floor as it will have a booth for it’s Mixer streaming service.

“These changes–expanding our presence, multiple venues, taking over the Microsoft Theater–give us the opportunity to bring together a variety of Xbox experiences into one primary location and, most importantly, let fans in on what we’re up to in 2018 and beyond in a fresh new way,” Nichols said.

Speculation is that Halo 6 will be among the major announcements Microsoft will make this year.

The post Microsoft Boasts E3 Plans For Xbox’s “Biggest Showing Ever” appeared first on Sudairy.

Both the Xbox One S and Xbox One X will support AMD FreeSync 2, an advanced adaptive sync technology that is present in a lot of gaming monitors which eliminates screen tearing resulting in a much smoother experience when it comes to fast-moving images.

The most common refresh rate is 60Hz but high end gaming monitors can reach up to 120Hz and 144Hz. The issu is that games typically fluctuate framerates and the console struggle to always hold the target FPS.

When refresh rate and framerate are out of sync, screen tearing can occur which can make it appear as if all, or part of, the image is split.

AMD FreeSync is a sync technology that forces the display adjust it’s refresh rate according to the game’s framerate on the fly, so to speak which negates screen tearing.

Doing this requires a display that does FreeSync over HDMI and currently there are no TVs with the tech that a lot of monitors have.

FreeSync 2 s a new version that offers lower latency and HDR support and will soon be compatible with both versions.

Microsoft did not give a specific date when its consoles will be able to use this technology, but stated that it has release window of Spring 2018.

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