Microsoft's Activision Blizzard takeover "will not result in a substantial lessening of competition", says CMA
The UK's Competition & Markets Authority has reached a provisional conclusion that Microsoft's bid to takeover Activision Blizzard «will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming in the UK».
The CMA has today updated its provisional findings on the basis of new evidence in response to those findings, the most significant of which relates to Microsoft's financial incentives to make Activision's games (including Call of Duty) exclusive.
«While the CMA's original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios, new data (which provides better insight into the actual purchasing behaviour of CoD gamers) indicates that this strategy would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario,» reads a new statement from the CMA.
«On this basis, the updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation.»
The CMA's addendum to its provisional findings relates only to console competition and not cloud gaming services, while it continues to «carefully consider the responses provided».
«Having considered the additional evidence provided, we have now provisionally concluded that the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in console gaming services because the cost to Microsoft of withholding Call of Duty from PlayStation would outweigh any gains from taking such action,» said Martin Coleman, chair of the independent panel of experts conducting this investigation.
The CMA is set to announce its final decision on the takeover on 26th April.
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