Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video game will be inserted into Microsoft’s Xbox One video game console located in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, January 19, 2022.
Michael Ciaglo | Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The UK competition regulator states: Microsoft’s Acquired gaming giant for $69 billion activision blizzard It could harm competition in the UK gaming market and could move to block the deal.
The Competition and Markets Bureau announced a tentative decision on the deal on Wednesday, saying the acquisition could raise competitive concerns and lead to higher prices, less choice and less innovation.
and Notice of Possible Remedies The CMA says it may require Microsoft to:
- sell the business associated with the popular Call of Duty franchise
- Selling the Activision Segment of Activision Blizzard
- Sell both Activision and Blizzard
- close the deal
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have until February 22nd to respond. The CMA plans to make a final decision on April 26th. Regulators said he launched a detailed investigation into the deal on Sept. 1.
CMA fears Activision deal could add Call of Duty and other lucrative titles to cloud-based Xbox Game Pass platform, strengthening Microsoft’s position in cloud gaming market doing.
Cloud gaming, which allows gamers to play games over the Internet on non-console devices, is still in its infancy and not a mass-market technology.
According to the CMA, the deal is a boost to Microsoft’s console business, and Microsoft said it would be “commercially profitable” to make Activision’s games exclusive to the Xbox hardware or available on the PlayStation. I would think so, he added.
This could “significantly reduce competition between Xbox and PlayStation in the UK, to the detriment of UK gamers,” notes Watchdog.
Activision Blizzard shares fell 3.4% in US premarket trading on Wednesday following the CMA announcement.
Rima Alaily, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said in an email to CNBC.
Microsoft promises to: Sony and Nintendo For ten years, continue to release new Call of Duty games on their respective PlayStation and Switch gaming platforms.
A spokeswoman for Activision Blizzard said the company “affirms its declared mandate to help the CMA better understand our industry and promote an environment where people can be confident they are getting great choices and a fair deal.” I hope we can achieve that,” he said.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick also sent an internal memo to employees Wednesday, saying the company “believes the law and fact are on our side.”
“In this case, the merged companies are Sony, Tencent, Netease, apple, Amazonand Facebook“We believe this merger will give us additional resources to compete with such giants.”
The deal between Microsoft and Activision also faces scrutiny in the United States and the European Union.
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission is trying to block the purchase on competition grounds, while the European Commission is also conducting a competition investigation into the deal. According to Reuters, the commission recently filed a bill, known as a notice of opposition, to express its concerns about the transaction.
