More than a year ago, Microsoft moved to buy Activision Blizzard, and that drama is still going on to this day. Many organizations see this as a huge anti-competitive move on the company’s part. Well, according to Engadget, the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) seems to have changed its stance on whether Microsoft should buy Activision Blizzard.
This is one of the biggest video game purchases to date, and it could have a ton of implications as far as the gaming industry is concerned. This is why this case didn’t only attract the attention of the American government. In the UK, the CMA started looking into this deal last year to see if it was going to negatively affect the gaming market.
The CMA doesn’t believe that Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard is a bad thing
The CMA started looking into this deal back in July of last year, and it wanted to see if this purchase would negatively impact the gaming industry. Buying this company would mean that Microsoft would hold the reins on Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and many many more franchises.
Many people fear that these franchises would eventually be Xbox exclusives. While that most likely won’t be the case, it’s still a scary thought that such a large chunk of the gaming market would be under one roof.
However, it seems that the CMA doesn’t see anything wrong with the merger. The organization believes that any damage done by the deal will be minimal. A major component of the deal (and the controversy) is Call of Duty. This is the biggest franchise owned by Activision Blizzard.
A lot of the conversation circles around whether Microsoft will yank Call of Duty off of the PlayStation storefront. But, the CMA acknowledged that, while a move like that could hurt the PlayStation’s appeal, it won’t sufficiently harm Sony’s consoles. Sony has a notable lead in the console gaming market with its PS5 selling in high volume.
The US still has some reservations
So, Microsoft has a little bit of the weight off of its back. The CMA isn’t looking to block the deal, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any more obstacles. The United States Federal Trade Commission is still suing Microsoft so that the deal doesn’t go through. This lawsuit has been going on for some time, and we don’t know when we’re going to see the end of it.
2023-03-25 15:05:44