Making Call of Duty Xbox exclusive ‘would be hard to get past regulators’, analyst says
A games industry analyst has said Microsoft could struggle to gain regulatory approval for its Activision Blizzard takeover should it plan to make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive.
The Xbox maker announced on Tuesday that it intends to acquire Activision Blizzard in a record-smashing $68.7 billion deal.
While Microsoft hopes to complete the buyout by June 2023, the deal will first need to clear the scrutiny of antitrust regulators.
Competition law seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. In the case of mergers and acquisitions, regulators can prohibit deals which are considered to threaten market competition or suggest remedies such as an obligation to divest part of the new business.
Reacting to Microsoft’s plans, DFC Intelligence said in a research note: “Will this deal go through? Regulators will take a close look and franchises like Call of Duty may not be exclusive to Xbox platforms because of antitrust concerns.”
David Cole, who owns DFC, also told GamesIndustry.biz: “The big issue is if COD becomes a Microsoft exclusive. Right now, I don’t think [it will]. For one thing, it would be hard to get it past regulators if they want to lock the competition out.”
Microsoft reportedly plans to keep making “some” Activision Blizzard games for PlayStation consoles following the takeover, and Xbox head Phil Spencer has claimed that “it’s not our intent to pull communities away from that platform”.
It’s worth noting however that Spencer made similar comments prior the completion of Microsoft’s $7.5 billion takeover of Bethesda parent company Zenimax last year.
While previously released Bethesda games such as The Elder Scrolls Online continue to be supported on PlayStation platforms, and
Read more on videogameschronicle.com
