The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its provisional conclusions on Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and has proposed to remove Call of Duty from the deal.
The U.K. regulator said the deal could reduce competition and “lead to higher prices, less choice or less innovation for U.K. gamers,” so it suggested that a “partial divestment of Activision Blizzard” could be a potential solution.
- Divesting part of its Call of Duty-related business
- Divesting the Activision portion of Activision Blizzard
- Complete divestiture of Activision and Blizzard
We are committed to providing an effective and easy-to-implement solution to address the CMA’s concerns,” said Rima Alaily, Microsoft’s vice president and deputy general counsel, in a statement to the VGC.
“Our commitment to grant long-term, 100 percent equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Nintendo, Steam and others preserves the benefits of the deal for gamers and developers, and increases competition in the marketplace.”
Alaily also reiterated the “100 percent equal access statement,” adding, “What does 100 percent mean? When we say equal, we mean equal in terms of content, pricing, features, quality, and playability.”
CMA’s statement, on the other hand, said the proposed merger would have a negative impact on the availability of cloud gaming services and the availability of consoles. It claimed that by acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft would “significantly reduce the competition it would otherwise face in the UK cloud gaming market. This could change the future of gaming and could hurt UK gamers, particularly those who cannot afford or do not want to buy an expensive console or gaming PC.”
The CMA also said that evidence provided to the agency, including “data on how Microsoft measures the value of its customers in the day-to-day course of business,” suggests that “Microsoft would make Activision’s games exclusive to its own gaming platform (or a worse experience on PlayStation) “.
Martin Coleman, chairman of the independent panel of experts conducting the second phase of the CMA, said: “It is estimated that there are around 45 million gamers in the UK and that the UK spends more money on games than any other form of entertainment, including music, movies, TV and books. The fierce competition between Xbox and PlayStation has defined the console gaming market for the past 20 years. Exciting new developments in cloud gaming are providing gamers with more choices. Our job is to ensure that UK gamers are not caught in the crossfire of corporate acquisitions that, over time, could harm competition and lead to higher prices, less choice or less innovation. We have found here for the time being that this may be the case.”
