As early as the beginning of this year, after Sony’s current CEO Jim Ryan learned that Microsoft would acquire Activision Blizzard, he tried to conduct a series of negotiations with Microsoft to force Microsoft to abandon the acquisition. However, the talks between Sony and Microsoft quickly broke down, and Jim Ryan also adjusted accordingly. The strategy was changed to “while waiting for the Blizzard acquisition to be blocked by regulatory agencies, while looking for new acquisition targets outside of Bungie”, and finally chose Bandai Namco.

▲ Picture source AlexSmitk’s post on the X platform

Alex Smitk emphasized that Sony’s Totoki Hiroki and Yoshida Kenichiro had previously negotiated acquisitions with Bandai Namco, and both parties had positive intentions.

If Sony successfully completes the acquisition of Bandai, it will become the largest acquisition in the history of Sony. Therefore, Toki Hiroki is very interested in this acquisition. In order to increase the acquisition chips, Toki Hiroki also plans to sell more than 100 million yuan to external parties.

Alex Smitk also said that the specific announcement time of Sony’s acquisition of Bandai will be announced at the beginning of Sony’s next fiscal year (Note: after March next year). Sony’s move will also help to compete with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

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Based on the information in the infographic,

Summarize the situation of Microsoft’s studios:

• Xbox Game Studio: contains 343 Industries, Obsidian Entertainment and many other studios, the estimated number of employees is more than 2,500.
• B society: the main “Starfield”, “Fallout”, “The Elder Scrolls” and other games, the estimated number of employees more than 2300 people.
• Activision: Includes Call of Duty and other series, with an estimated workforce of more than 7,500.
• Blizzard: Including “Diablo”, “World of Warcraft”, “Watchmen” and other series of games, the estimated number of employees is more than 7,000.
• King: including “Candy Saga” and other games, the estimated number of more than 2,500 people.

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A Hasbro representative claimed that Activision Blizzard was “unsure which hard drives in their building the source code was on,” implying that the source code was lost during Activision Blizzard’s merger with another company. This has led to speculation that the “lost” games could be re-released if Microsoft succeeds in acquiring Activision Blizzard, as Microsoft may be able to find the source code for the games. A Hasbro representative added: “Hopefully the deal that Microsoft and Xbox are working on right now will go through and they will search all the archives and every hard drive to find all the source code because it’s a great value-add for Xbox Game Pass. We want these games back on the shelves for gamers to have a chance to experience them.”

However, Activision Blizzard has vehemently denied this and said that the source code for these games was not lost. Lulu Cheng Meservey, Chief Content Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Activision Blizzard, also issued a statement on X stating that the reports were false and that the source code was never lost. She further noted that “the company owns the source code and it was not lost.”

Finally, Hasbro also apologized and clarified, saying that the previous statement was false. In a statement sent to VGC, Hasbro said, “To clarify, our previous statement that the Transformers game had been lost was false. We apologize to Activision Blizzard and apologize for any confusion caused — they have been a great partner for us and we look forward to the opportunity to continue working together in the future.”

Despite Hasbro’s apology and clarification, it remains unclear what the future of the Transformers games will be.

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After the US FTC appeal failed again, the UK CMA announced last week that it would extend the review deadline by six weeks, originally scheduled for 18 July, now adjusted to 29 August.

According to The Verge, Microsoft has submitted a new document to the UK CMA to urge it to revisit the deal and approve it as soon as possible.

▲ The relevant documents flowing from Microsoft, image source The Verge

Microsoft is reported to have recently signed a deal with cloud gaming company NWare in exchange for the company’s support in court. This comes after Microsoft made similar deals with companies such as NVIDIA and Boosteroid when they were under investigation by EU regulators.

A few days ago, Microsoft also signed a new contract with Sony for “Call of Duty”, so the foreign media speculated that in the future, Microsoft and the British CMA, the U.S. FTC in the circle, Sony should maintain a neutral attitude.

Microsoft itself, according to the agreement signed, asked the British CMA to “re-evaluate the ‘Activision Blizzard acquisition case'”.

In addition, Microsoft is also working on a final proposal for the acquisition documents to address the CMA’s concerns more directly, which may involve selling some of Microsoft’s cloud gaming rights in the UK.

From Microsoft’s recent actions, it can be seen that its acquisition of Activision Blizzard can be said to be “desperate”, but whether the UK CMA “cares” about these actions of Microsoft, it will take time to judge.

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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also published Microsoft’s arguments on Monday, explaining why the deal should be reassessed, and the CMA said in a statement that anyone wishing to comment on Microsoft’s takeover should submit their views by 4 August.

In its submission, Microsoft set out its commitment that Activision Blizzard Games could offer cloud gaming services for ten years after the merger and highlighted agreements with Sony, Nvidia, Boosteroid and Ubitus that it believes should allay the CMA’s concerns.

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For comparison, data shared by Activision Blizzard in February 2022 shows that Call of Duty Mobile game spending was $1.5 billion.

The official statement is as follows:

 Player engagement and net bookings of Call of Duty Mobile remained stable year-on-year. The team enhanced player experience and optimized real-time operations, which received positive responses from players.

 Since its launch in October 2019, as of the second quarter of 2023, global players have spent more than $3 billion on Call of Duty Mobile (currently about 21.54 billion CNY).

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Activision Blizzard says: “The team at Activision is working hard on a brand new chapter in the franchise, scheduled for release in Q4, which is well under development on PC and console platforms.”

Activision Blizzard also revealed that Call of Duty: Warzone Handheld is tightly integrated with the PC and console experiences, and is still in regional testing.

This year’s Call of Duty is reportedly a sequel to last year’s Modern Warfare 2, with development led by Sledgehammer Games studio. Activision Blizzard appeared to confirm the news earlier this week, with the company stating that Modern Warfare 2’s characters, weapons, and bundles will carry over to this year’s installment in the series. Modern Warfare 2’s maps and modes will also reportedly be ported to the new installment.

Activision Blizzard said on Tuesday that the first details about the first announcement event for this year’s games will be released in an announcement for Modern Warfare 2 and Season 5 of Battlezone 2, which is expected to go live in early August.

In its earnings report on Wednesday, the company said, “Call of Duty, which is approaching its 20th anniversary in October, currently reaches approximately 90 million players per month, with more than half of those players engaging on mobile platforms.” Activision Blizzard also claimed that global consumer spending on Call of Duty: Handheld has exceeded $3bn since its launch in October 2019 (currently around RMB 21.69bn).

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have signed an agreement to extend the deadline to complete the acquisition deal to 18 October. The companies are still seeking regulatory approval for the deal from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the last major hurdle preventing the deal from being completed.

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Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has so far been approved by the governments of 39 countries, and the biggest obstacle to the deal is now the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which vetoed Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard in April this year, fearing that competition in the cloud gaming market would be damaged.

The CMA said on Monday that it had held “fruitful” consultations with Microsoft about potential remedies, but it has so far upheld the veto. Consultations in the UK are expected to take days or even weeks, and the CMA has pushed back the deadline for issuing a final decision to 29 August.

Sony and Microsoft had reached a “binding agreement” on 16 July, guaranteeing the continued release of Call of Duty on PlayStation.

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The lawmakers, all from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, sent a letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan and two FTC commissioners on Monday and made it public on Tuesday. They argued that the deal was a “pro-competitive transaction.

The FTC is the U.S. antitrust enforcement agency. The FTC is considering whether to take further action after a U.S. district court ruled last week that the deal was legal and denied an emergency motion to stay it.

The aforementioned legislators wrote: “We are writing to express our concerns and urge you to drop this matter.”

Microsoft, which owns the Xbox console, has been taking steps in recent months to save the $69 billion merger deal. While antitrust enforcers in both the U.S. and U.K. have criticized the deal, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard appear to be getting closer to finalizing the deal.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is not only the largest deal in Microsoft’s history, it is also one of the largest in the history of the video game industry.

The letter to the FTC was signed by lawmakers including U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Texas) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Last week, House Judiciary members had questioned Khan on the matter.

The FTC confirmed it had received the letter but declined to comment. Microsoft has yet to respond.

“The FTC’s decision to seek a preliminary injunction against a pro-competitive transaction, Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, is the latest and most egregious example of its rejection of sound antitrust policy,” the letter reads.

“For 20 years, the Microsoft Xbox business has been the smaller challenger in the video game distribution and console markets.” The legislators added that “adding Activision Blizzard’s library of games is intended to help Xbox make those games available to a wider range of consumers, especially those who like to play games on mobile devices.”

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The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requested an injunction to complete the merger pending the conclusion of a months-long appeals process, but a US appeals court rejected the injunction application, allowing Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard in the US without hindrance. The FTC still plans to start its internal administrative case process next month, though.

There is only one potential obstacle remaining, and that is the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). According to speculation, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will extend the merger deadline while continuing negotiations with the CMA.

A few days ago, the CMA announced that it would extend the deadline for the final report from July 18 to August 29 to gain more time to consider Microsoft’s “detailed and complex application”, which means that the CMA’s final report date is far away. After the closing date of the merger agreement.

The merger agreement between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard has a clause that if the merger cannot be completed before July 18, Microsoft will pay $3 billion in compensation. Today, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are likely to push back this merger deadline to ensure that the CMA’s final report is released before the deadline.

At the same time, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard could theoretically complete the merger before then, but it may lead to a forced sale and other subsequent troubles. Microsoft certainly wants to avoid any surprises, and it does so with this extended agreement.

The Competition Appeals Tribunal has set a case management meeting for July 17, the day before the merger termination date.

An update on the Competition Appeals Tribunal’s website shows: “A meeting has been scheduled to consider a joint application by all parties to suspend these proceedings pending further discussion between the CMA and Microsoft on July 17, 2023.”

The Competition Appellate Tribunal process may take some time, which also illustrates the need for Microsoft to delay the termination date of the agreement to acquire Activision Blizzard.

There is also speculation that Activision Blizzard may use the postponement of negotiations to obtain a higher share price premium from Microsoft, possibly raising the acquisition price from $95 to around $107, which would increase the total cost of the acquisition from $68.7 billion to $77.4 billion.

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