CMA Completely Misunderstands This Provision In Microsoft’s Cloud Gaming Contracts

gameranx.com:

We have an interesting situation when it comes to the CMA decision on the Microsoft Activision deal.

The CMA published their full 415 page report for the public to review and critique at their pleasure. As a result, many folks went ahead and read through the document to learn the finer details of their rejection of the deal.

As covered on Reddit, a provision found on page 352 of the document started spreading the rounds of the internet. This was the exact text, as found in CMA’s report:

“first, the modified Microsoft Cloud Remedy would entitle Microsoft to retain all revenue from sales of Activision games, in-app purchases, and any other future game-related transactional revenues –

as a result, cloud game streaming services would not become rivals to Microsoft’s Game Pass Ultimate, but rather, they would become Microsoft’s customers, with only the ability to stream Activision games and send all the associated revenues to Microsoft.

This third party told us that this would be unattractive for any cloud game streaming service, including BYOG operators like NVIDIA , which are the only operators that would benefit from the modified Microsoft Cloud Remedy should Microsoft decide not to license Activision games;”

As the CMA understands it, the contracts that Microsoft offered to other cloud gaming companies, such as Nvidia, Boosteroid, and Ubitus, allows Microsoft to keep the revenue that they make from Activision games.

This would make it an unattractive prospect for cloud gaming companies, and that includes Nvidia. As Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach has pointed out, most game console companies take a 30 % cut of revenue from game sales.

However, this assumption does not seem to hold up to immediate scrutiny. Nvidia actually