UK regulators are expected to disagree with Microsoft on their acquisition of Activision Blizzard
A new week means one thing: another update on Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to a report from The New York Times, Microsoft is expecting the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to oppose the deal, after EU regulators issued their own antitrust warnings last week. Microsoft reportedly believes it can convince EU and UK regulators to accept their concessions and ultimately approve the acquisition.
While several other countries have approved the acquisition, the three most important regulators (US, UK, EU) are all in agreement. Last December, the US Federal Trade Commission moved to block deal, argued that it would stifle competition in the console market alongside emerging business models like cloud gaming and subscription services like Game Pass. Microsoft had hoped to complete the deal by the end of their fiscal year in June, but that seems impossible as the FTC hearings are scheduled to begin August 2.
Regulators’ concerns stem from some of the huge IPs tied to ActiBlizzard including Diablo, Overwatch and mostly Call Of Duty. Sony and Microsoft have had a seemingly eternal back-and-forth about CoD for months. Most recently, Microsoft communications lead Frank X. Shaw went public Shoot at Sonyclaims that PlayStation operators have been dishonest with EU regulators.
According to Shaw, Sony has “stated that Microsoft is not willing to give them parity with Call of Duty if we buy Activision.” He went on to say that “Nothing could be further from the truth” as Microsoft is ready to sign a 10-year CoD agreement that is “enforceable through contract, regulatory agreement or other means.” This could be a 10-year deal similar to what Nintendo and Valve used to be offer a few months ago. We can expect Microsoft to make more concessions in an attempt to appease global regulators.
An acquisition of this scale is not a good look for Microsoft, as they are recent lay off 10,000 employees. The layoffs affected Bethesda, another recent acquisition by MS, along with their in-house Halo 343i studio, who are Fight to get back on track.
