UK competition body concerned about impact of Microsoft Activision deal

pcgamesinsider.biz:

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has laid out some of the concerns it has about Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard.

In a post on the organisation's website, it detailed the reasons why it felt it had to proceed to a second phase investigation into the deal. Seemingly the biggest reason is that the CMA believes the deal will harm PlayStation, as well as other companies that offer subscription services. The organisation reckons that Microsoft could withhold its first-party content – including Activision Blizzard games – from other services in order to bolster its own.

The body also thinks that within the console market, hardware with a lot of content will attract more content. As a result, Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard has the potential to give the platform holder an exponential advantage in the future.

"The CMA is concerned that having full control over this powerful catalogue, especially in light of Microsoft's already strong position in gaming consoles, operating systems, and cloud infrastructure, could result in Microsoft harming consumers by impairing Sony's – Microsoft's closest gaming rival – ability to compete as well as that of other existing rivals and potential new entrants who could otherwise bring healthy competition through innovative multi-game subscriptions and cloud gaming services," the CMA wrote.

The CMA also points to the possibility of Activision Blizzard titles coming to something like Xbox Game Pass on the day of release giving Microsoft a huge advantage in the subscription and streaming space.

"The CMA recognises that ABK's newest games are not currently available on any subscription service on the day of release but considers that this may change as subscription services