UK narrows antitrust probe of Microsoft-Activision

techcrunch.com:

The UK’s antitrust watchdog has narrowed its probe of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion bid for video game giant, Activision Blizzard, it said today.

In February, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally concluded the merger “could harm U.K. gamers” through higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation. Today it’s updated that position — saying new evidence “provisionally alleviates” concerns in relation to the supply of games consoles in the UK.

However a previously stated provisional finding — that the deal raises concerns in relation to cloud gaming — remains unaffected; and the investigation continues, with a final report due from the watchdog by April 26, 2023.

“The CMA has received a significant amount of new evidence in response to its original provisional findings. Having considered this new evidence carefully, together with the wide range of information gathered before those provisional findings were issued, the CMA inquiry group has updated its provisional findings and reached the provisional conclusion that, overall, the transaction will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming in the UK,” it wrote in a an update on the case.

The watchdog said the most significant new evidence it’s received relates to Microsoft’s financial incentives to make Activision’s games, including Call of Duty (CoD), exclusive to its own consoles. “While the CMA’s original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios, new data (which provides better insight into the actual purchasing behaviour of CoD gamers) indicates that this strategy would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario,” the CMA wrote. “On this basis, the updated analysis