Microsoft's bid to buy games giant faces triple anti-trust threat
Depending on which side you're on, tech giant Microsoft is either the hero fighting to bring some of the most popular video games to more people, or the villain on the brink of killing competition in the sector.
The Xbox-owner has embarked on a campaign to convince all three EU, UK and US regulators to back its $69 billion bid to take over Activision Blizzard, owner of hit games "Candy Crush" and "Call Of Duty".
The effort to create the world's third largest gaming company by revenue was launched last year but the company must now address concerns from all three regulators that if it takes control of such market-leading games it could stifle competition.
Sony, which produces the bestselling PlayStation console, says the deal will give Microsoft the power to limit rivals' access to the popular franchise. Microsoft argues it would not make financial sense for it to do so.
And the toughest authority to convince could be the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which in February issued preliminary findings that the takeover could harm competition and consumer choice.
The British market is smaller than that of the United States or the European Union, but if the CMA blocks the Activision Blizzard takeover, Microsoft would probably have to back down.
Microsoft would have to comply since removing all of its products from British users would mean losing a huge market, Anne Witt, a professor of anti-trust law at EDHEC business school in France, told AFP.
"It is unthinkable that Microsoft would completely withdraw from the UK. It's not only video games, it's Windows," Witt said, referring to Microsoft's globally dominant PC operating system.
Witt pointed to the UK regulator's recent decision to order Facebook owner Meta to sell
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