Activision Blizzard: British market regulator expresses concerns about the deal

The UK’s competition and markets regulator has set out its concerns about the deal with Activision Blizzard.

The concerns of the British supervisory authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) about the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft have now been explained in more detail. The deal is currently in a second phase of examination by the British.

The authority wrote in a document that the merger could reduce competition and that it could also have a negative impact on subscription and cloud gaming services. The CMA even says that Microsoft could harm consumers because a stronger position would affect the competitiveness of Sony and others.

“There is a realistic prospect of a significant reduction in competition in gaming consoles, multi-game subscription services and cloud gaming services.”

“The CMA is concerned that having complete control over this powerful catalogue, particularly given Microsoft’s already strong position in gaming consoles, operating systems and cloud infrastructure, could result in Microsoft hurting consumers by hurting the competitiveness of Sony – Microsoft’s closest gaming competitor – as well as those of other existing competitors and potential entrants who might otherwise create healthy competition through innovative multi-game subscriptions and cloud gaming services.”

The authority also seems to be critical of the fact that new games from Activision Blizzard will end up in Xbox Game Pass at launch. This is not currently the case, but it could affect competition in the future.

“The CMA recognizes that ABK’s latest games are not currently available on a subscription service as of release date, but believes this may change as subscription services continue to grow. Post-merger, Microsoft would gain control of this important input and could use it to hurt the competitiveness of its competitors.”

The subscription service Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass seems to tip the scales here, including cloud gaming. At least for the UK competition authority.

While the British government continues to work out the details of the acquisition, Brazil and Saudi Arabia have already approved it.

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