Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Calls out Regulators Lack of Experience with the Games Industry
Following a report by the U.K's Competition and Markets Authority calling Microsoft's merger with Activision into question, CEO Bobby Kotick has been firing back at regulators lack of experience with the video games industry, arguing against claims that it would be detrimental to consumers. A 16-page document released by the CMA earlier this week expressed concern that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox, reducing competition in gaming consoles, but Kotick has pushed back, calling it "not a fair concern at all."
FOX Business «I think what we’re experiencing right now are regulators who have very little experience with our industry,» he told host Liz Claman. «There’s probably a lot of consolidation that could happen over time, but it’s an extremely fragmented industry, and today the dominant players are Japanese and Chinese companies.» He went on to reiterate he thinks «there’s an enormous amount of competition» in the industry, and regulators will «think about this transaction differently» when they «start to understand that.»Microsoft and Activision have both had a lot to say on this point recently, with Microsoft already having offered Sony, Nintendo, and Steam a 10-year commitment to equal access, calling any move to make Call of Duty unavailable to PlayStation economically irrational. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick similarly told FOX Business that neither company would ever do anything to upset availability.
Bobby Kotick on The Claman Countdown We have 400 million customers today. The entire business model is based on making our software available on every microprocessor that has a display, and that's Microsoft's business model since the 1980's. On my Macintosh, I Read more on wowhead.com
