Microsoft spokesman said: the company on Wednesday on the British anti-monopoly regulator Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to prevent its $ 69 billion. The decision to buy “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard is appealed.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and King will cost nearly $69 billion, which would be a record deal for the gaming industry. In April, the CMA blocked the deal, saying it could harm competition in the nascent cloud gaming market. Currently, the deal has been approved by most regulators including Brazil, China and the European Union.
The CMA’s decision to block the deal drew backlash from both companies, with Microsoft saying it had shaken confidence in the UK as a destination for tech businesses. On Wednesday, Microsoft appealed to the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT). “We can confirm that we have appealed,” said Robin Koch, director of communications at Microsoft.
The European Union’s competition authority approved the deal earlier this month after accepting Microsoft’s proposed remedies broadly equivalent to those it had proposed in the UK. Microsoft is also appealing the Federal Trade Commission’s action seeking to block the deal, which the agency said would stifle competition.
Microsoft said: “The acquisition of Activision Blizzard is now approved in 37 countries, including 27 countries in the European Union and 10 other countries including China, Japan and Brazil, covering a population of more than 2 billion people. This acquisition is in line with our The combination of recent commitments to the European Commission will enable consumers around the world to play more games on more devices.”
While Microsoft has been approved in various countries, it has yet to convince the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US.
Microsoft also recently got the green light from European Union (EU) regulators, but with some conditions attached. EU regulators said the deal itself would not reduce competition in the console market, but could affect the cloud gaming space for years to come. “The European Commission is asking Microsoft to automatically license Activision Blizzard’s hit titles to rival cloud gaming services. This will apply globally and will enable millions of consumers around the world to play on any device of their choice These games,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement. Microsoft has provided a solution by signing exclusivity agreements with various cloud gaming platforms, giving the latter a royalty-free license for Activision games. While the CMA believes the proposal will not solve the problem, the European Commission agrees that it will increase competition in the market.
Sony, Microsoft’s sole rival in the console market, strongly opposed the deal, claiming the company plans to keep Activision games exclusive to Xbox and PC and harm the competitive nature of the market. Microsoft, on the other hand, claimed that making the game exclusive would only bring losses to the company. Microsoft tried to offer Sony the same solution, but was rejected. The FTC is still investigating the deal, with a hearing scheduled for Aug. 2. For the UK market, Microsoft plans to appeal the decision.
