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Activision: The British competition regulator says that Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard could harm competition in the U.K. gaming market, and that it could move to block the deal.
The Competition and Markets Authority published a provisional decision on the deal on Wednesday, stating that the takeover raises competition concerns and may result in higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation.
In a notice of possible remedies sent to both parties, the CMA said it may require Microsoft to:
sell the business associated with its popular Call of Duty franchise divest the Activision segment of Activision Blizzard divest both Activision and Blizzard terminate the deal Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have until Feb. 22 to respond. The CMA is set to issue a final decision on April 26. The regulator opened an in-depth probe into the deal on Sept. 1.
The CMA is concerned that the Activision deal could strengthen Microsoft’s position in the cloud gaming market, adding Call of Duty and other lucrative titles to its cloud-based Xbox Game Pass platform.
Activision Part 2 We finally heard from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority on Microsoft's attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard yesterday, and it wasn't good news, with the CMA provisionally finding that the takeover "could result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers".
However, shortly after the CMA published its provisional findings, analysts Nick McKay and Michael Pachter from Wedbush Securities penned a note to investors stating that they believe the deal will close by no later than mid-May.
Here's what they had to say, courtesy of GamesIndustry.biz:
"We read today's release as a signal that the UK knows it has a losing legal argument. In our view, the FTC figured this out late last year, and rushed to file suit to block the merger in the hopes of being first to extract concessions from Microsoft. We believe that the CMA reached the same conclusion during its review, and accelerated its formal objection to the deal and proposed remedies in order to step in front of the FTC and gain bragging rights.
The FTC has as yet to offer proposed remedies, and the CMA, by listing onerous structural remedies, has positioned itself to be the 'dragon slayer' in this action."
The "structural remedies" that the two analysts refer to here were revealed by the CMA yesterday, suggesting that Microsoft could look to take Call of Duty out of the deal, or even remove the Activision part and just leave Blizzard!
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