“It is neither possible nor realistic to think of a game or a portion of the [Activision Blizzard] company being cut up and then separated from the rest,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith after a hearing with authorities European Union competition in Brussels on Tuesday 21 February. The American thus sweeps away the proposal made, ten days earlier, by the British competition regulator to separate from the lucrative Call of Duty license in order to remove the reluctance concerning the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The $ 69 billion acquisition of the powerful American publisher, a record for the video game industry, has encountered obstacles since the fall. Competition regulators in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have issued initial unfavorable opinions. However, no definitive verdict has yet been pronounced.
The various entities fear, in particular, that the takeover of the successful Call of Duty, Candy Crush and World of Warcraft licenses by the Xbox manufacturer will harm consumers, fearing, for example, that the famous shooting game will become a exclusive to Microsoft consoles. In response, Brad Smith announced in Brussels on Tuesday that a contract had been signed with Nintendo to make Call of Duty available again on the Japanese brand’s platforms, after a hiatus of nearly ten years.
Another area of ??concern is the still simmering cloud gaming sector, in which Microsoft is in a strong position through its Game Pass subscription gaming service. An agreement with competitor Nvidia, owner of the cloud gaming service GeForce Now, has also been signed in order to dispel fears of monopoly expressed by the various competition authorities.
Verdicts expected in the spring
The European regulator opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed takeover of the American publisher in November, judging that the operation could “significantly reduce” competition in this video game market. The European Commission then undertook to take a decision before March 23.
On February 21, Brussels therefore heard the president of Microsoft behind closed doors, as well as Phil Spencer, the leader of Xbox and the historic chairman and CEO of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick. Other interviews were also conducted with competing companies, such as Alphabet, Google’s parent company, Sony or Nvidia, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
The UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), had also feared, indeed, potential “harms” to players in the UK caused by the acquisition. He had given Microsoft until February 22 to respond to his concerns. Its final opinion must be delivered before the April 26 deadline.
Finally, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) considers that Microsoft’s strategy risks leading to “higher prices, lower quality and reduced innovation”. It has, for its part, initiated a lawsuit against Microsoft, scheduled for August, to determine whether the operation, announced in January 2022, can continue or not.
