It looks like Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have a tough job ahead of them in the UK over the next few months, as the UK Competition and Markets Authority has tentatively ruled that Xbox’s attempted takeover of ActiBlizz “could result in higher prices, less choice or less innovation for UK gamers.”
In a report published today on the UK government’s official website, the CMA said its extensive investigation, which took place over the past five months, found that Microsoft’s ability to acquire Activision Blizzard would “significantly reduce competition” in cloud gaming. the market is growing.
He also apparently found that the possibility of certain games being made exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem could “significantly reduce competition between Xbox and PlayStation in the UK, which in turn would hurt UK gamers”.
“The CMA tentatively concluded that the purchase of one of the world’s largest game publishers would reinforce this strong [cloud gaming] position itself and significantly reduce the competition Microsoft would face in the UK cloud gaming market.”
“The CMA tentatively found that the lessening of competition by restricting other platforms’ access to Activision games could significantly reduce competition between Xbox and PlayStation in the UK, which would harm UK gamers.”
While this appears to be very bad news for the acquisition, the CMA reportedly sent the companies “an explanation of how our concerns might be resolved”, with a final report due April 26, 2023.
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