Microsoft’s Brad Smith Has Softened On CMA, Calls Them “Tough And Fair”
Microsoft President Brad Smith has softened his stance on the UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, following the Microsoft – Activision deal.
As reported by The Verge, Brad shared this opinion in a new interview with UK media outlet Radio 4:
“I certainly learned a lot personal. I wouldn’t step back necessarily from all of the concerns I raised when I talked way back in April, but I might choose slightly different words to make my point.
The CMA held to a tough standard and I respect that. In my view it was tough and fair. It pushed Microsoft to change the acquisition that we had proposed for Activision Blizzard, to spin out certain rights that the CMA was concerned about with respect to cloud gaming.”
We won’t review the entire history of the regulation of the Microsoft – Activision deal, but the UK and its CMA was a particularly touchy episode. As we had reported, after the CMA ‘prevented’ the deal for the UK, Brad called the decision “bad for Britain,” and said that the CMA’s decision sent “a message that I think will discourage innovation and investment in the United Kingdom.”
Brad and Microsoft in general were clearly keen to put pressure on the CMA, but what some fans may not remember is that things actually started cooling off as soon as the situation started changing. The UK joined the US and the EU as the three biggest gaming regions that could cancel the deal if they rejected the merger.
The EU went on to approve the deal, with arrangements in place for European cloud gaming companies to receive Xbox cloud gaming for free. The US’ FTC tried to block the deal, but ended up losing in court.
The CMA was also set to face Microsoft in appeals court, but both sides agreed to put a halt to the appeal
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