The British Competition and Markets Authority, the government body that must approve the purchase of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft on behalf of the UK, is more positive about the deal. Concerns about competition in the console market have eased, but not yet for cloud gaming.
The CMA states that it now estimates that Microsoft would not benefit from making the Call of Duty franchise exclusive to Xbox. “The CMA’s original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable in most scenarios. However, new data provides a better understanding of the actual buying behavior of CoD gamers. It follows that this strategy would be significantly loss-making in any plausible scenario. ” Therefore, it is the CMA’s preliminary conclusion that the acquisition would not result in a significant reduction of competition in the gaming console space.
The CMA continues to “carefully weigh” the responses it has received on cloud gaming and is not commenting on that at this time, but concerns have clearly not been allayed in this area. Recently, Microsoft has signed agreements with Nvidia, Boosteroid and Ubitus. The first is access to Call of Duty and other titles on GeForce NOW, and the second and third are also game streaming services. Microsoft is therefore taking steps in this area to alleviate those concerns.
The CMA is sticking to its deadline for making a final judgment. It is on April 26. That of the European Commission, which also approves the takeover, had been moved up. The Commission is also more positive about the deal than was initially the case. He will make a ruling on May 22. Microsoft wants to pay $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard.
The US FTC is another stumbling block for Microsoft to overcome. The commission filed an antitrust suit against the company in December because it fears that the acquisition would lead to an impediment to competition in the games market. The first session will take place in August this year.