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The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced today that it has completed the first part of its investigation into the acquisition of Activision Blizzard-Microsoft. While the findings were inconclusive, Microsoft made a promise in response. It reassured players that it has no intention of keeping Activision Blizzard’s upcoming titles off PlayStation.
The CMA says it recommends a second, more extensive investigation into the acquisition. It expressed concern that “Microsoft could leverage Activision Blizzard’s games along with Microsoft’s power on console, cloud and PC operating systems to hurt competition in the nascent cloud gaming services market.”
A further investigation into the acquisition will likely require regulators to investigate communications between the two companies. They will have to determine whether the merger was done with the intention of eliminating competition in the market, in particular by reviewing the internal documents of both companies.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick published a letter to company personnel in response to the decision. According to him, the process is “generally progressing as we expected” and outlined why regulators are still investigating. He added that they need approval from many governments and “have already received approvals from a number of countries.”
Healthy competition
In the midst of this, Microsoft stated that it has no intention of taking Call of Duty from PlayStation players. Phil Spencer said, in a blog post on the CMA’s picks: “We’ve heard that this deal might take franchises like Call of Duty away from the places where people are currently playing them. That’s why, as we’ve said before, we’re committed to making the same version of Call of Duty available on PlayStation the same day the game launches elsewhere.”
That said, Spencer confirmed that it is bringing Activision Blizzard’s games to Game Pass. “We plan to make Activision Blizzard’s beloved library of games — including Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty — available in Game Pass and grow those gaming communities.” While Call of Duty is the only franchise that Spencer has explicitly promised to come to PlayStation, that implies that the company will keep all of these upcoming releases multiplatform.
Players fear that acquisitions would alienate certain user groups and cut both ways. After the acquisition of Bungie by Sony, the studio assured everyone that it would operate independently. CEO Pete Parsons said, “Our games will stay where our community is, wherever they want to play.” Similarly, Spencer tweeted in January: “Had great conversations with leaders at Sony this week. I reaffirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements in the Activision Blizzard acquisition and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry and we value our relationship.”
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