- Staff
- #1
The Competition and Markets Authority has blocked Microsoft's planned $68.7bn acquisition of Activision.
Over a year on from the announcement of Microsoft's plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, it's been confirmed that the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked the deal.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said: "We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal. The CMA's decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the United Kingdom.
"We have already signed contracts to make Activision Blizzard's popular games available on 150 million more devices, and we remain committed to reinforcing these agreements through regulatory remedies," he continued. "We're especially disappointed that after lengthy deliberations, this decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works."
According to a press release published by the CMA, the regulators made their decision based on "concerns the deal would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market, leading to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come". It noted that Microsoft already accounts for around 60-70% of cloud gaming services across the world, and that evidence suggests that making Activision games exclusive to Microsoft's cloud gaming service would be "commercially beneficial".
"The deal would reinforce Microsoft's advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft," the press release reads. "The evidence available to the CMA indicates that, absent the merger, Activision would start providing games via cloud platforms in the foreseeable future."
The CMA added: "It would standardise the terms and conditions on which games are available, as opposed to them being determined by the dynamism and creativity of competition in the market, as would be expected in the absence of the merger."
Over a year on from the announcement of Microsoft's plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, it's been confirmed that the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked the deal.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said: "We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal. The CMA's decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the United Kingdom.
"We have already signed contracts to make Activision Blizzard's popular games available on 150 million more devices, and we remain committed to reinforcing these agreements through regulatory remedies," he continued. "We're especially disappointed that after lengthy deliberations, this decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works."
According to a press release published by the CMA, the regulators made their decision based on "concerns the deal would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market, leading to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come". It noted that Microsoft already accounts for around 60-70% of cloud gaming services across the world, and that evidence suggests that making Activision games exclusive to Microsoft's cloud gaming service would be "commercially beneficial".
"The deal would reinforce Microsoft's advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft," the press release reads. "The evidence available to the CMA indicates that, absent the merger, Activision would start providing games via cloud platforms in the foreseeable future."
The CMA added: "It would standardise the terms and conditions on which games are available, as opposed to them being determined by the dynamism and creativity of competition in the market, as would be expected in the absence of the merger."
