Rivals asked for feedback on Xbox’s Activision deal in leaked EU questionnaire
The European Commission has begun seeking feedback from Microsoft’s and Activision Blizzard’s rivals on the companies’ proposed $68.7 billion merger.
According to a leaked document obtained by Reuters, EU antitrust regulators have sent out a questionnaire, with about 100 questions, to game developers, publishers and distributors who would be impacted by the deal should it be approved.
Microsoft officially filed its case for the Activision Blizzard deal with the EU last Friday and the Commission has set a provisional deadline of November 8 to clear the transaction or choose to enter a second, more detailed investigation phase, like the UK competition watchdog recently chose to do.
The questionnaire reportedly asks whether Microsoft will be incentivised to block competitors’ access to Activision Blizzard’s series, which include Call of Duty, Diablo and Overwatch, in order to boost its standing in both the console and PC spaces.
It also asks how important the Call of Duty franchise is for distributors of console games, and for providers of game subscription and cloud game streaming services.
Activision Blizzard’s games had 361 million monthly active users at the last official count in August. And like the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), EU regulators are keen to examine whether its collection of consumer data would give Microsoft a competitive advantage.
Respondents are also being asked whether the deal would impact their bargaining power when it comes to selling their games on Xbox consoles and Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service.
Backing up previous claims that the EU probe into the deal will be a lengthy one, Reuters said the Commission is expected to launch a four-month phase two investigation following its initial
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