The UK Competition Markets Authority has moved to block Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, citing concerns the deal would damage competition in the cloud gaming market, leading to less innovation and choice for UK gamers.
CMA ReasoningThe CMA's press release included a lengthy writeup detailing their grievances, revolving around competition within the Cloud Gaming market, citing the potential for Microsoft's dominance to stifle innovation — asserting that while beneficial to some customers, it would not outweigh the overall harm to competition and UK gamers. Please note the quote below is condensed from select highlights — please see the full Press Release for more detail.
Competition and Markets Authority The deal would reinforce Microsoft’s advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. The evidence available to the CMA indicates that, absent the merger, Activision would start providing games via cloud platforms in the foreseeable future. The cloud allows UK gamers to avoid buying expensive gaming consoles and PCs and gives them much more flexibility and choice as to how they play. Allowing Microsoft to take such a strong position in the cloud gaming market just as it begins to grow rapidly would risk undermining the innovation that is crucial to the development of these opportunities. Microsoft’s proposal contained a number of significant shortcomings connected with the growing and fast-moving nature of cloud gaming services:It did not sufficiently cover different cloud gaming service business models, including multigame subscription services. It was not sufficiently open to providers who might wish to offer Read more on wowhead.com