Acquisition of Activision by Microsoft is Bad News for Gamers

Source: Youtube

Microsoft Being Microsoft

The American company Activision Blizzard is one of the best-known publishers of computer games, with titles such as 'Call of Duty', 'World of Warcraft' and 'Overwatch'. Microsoft announced in January last year that it would pay 68.7 billion dollars for the company. The acquisition of American computer game developer and publisher Activision
Blizzard by technology group Microsoft may lead to higher prices and less offer for gamers. That is the preliminary conclusion of the British competition market authority CMA, after an in-depth investigation.

The deal was immediately viewed with suspicion. There is a reason to believe that Microsoft could reserve established Activision titles exclusively for its own Xbox game console at the expense of Japanese rivals Sony and Nintendo. Or in a whorse case, offer the acquired Activision titles under harsher terms to its competitors. Also when it comes to gaming on the PC, Microsoft pretty good stronghold on the market with its Windows operating system.

Competition Between Brands in Jeopardy

In the United Kingdom, the CMA launched an in-depth investigation in September. In a preliminary conclusion, the regulator said on Wednesday that the acquisition "could harm British gamers". By extension, it also applies to gamers worldwide. Not only does the British watchdog see disadvantages for "the important rivalry" between Xbox and Playstation, CMA is also concerned about the emerging cloud gaming concept. According to the CMA, Microsoft already controls 60 to 70 percent of the cloud gaming market and the company would benefit greatly from keeping Activision's games to itself and thus attracting more customers. With regard to competition between consoles, CMA pointed out,
among other things, that Microsoft has already applied the strategy of recruiting game developers to only offer their games on its own platforms several times in the past.

Source: playstation.com

Call of Duty

The CMA specifically mentioned 'Call of Duty'. Access to the popular war game is of great importance for a healthy competitional environment , reduction of this competition between Microsoft and Sony may result in higher prices, and less offer on the gaming market. Microsoft and Activision will now have the opportunity to respond to the CMA's
conclusion and make some proposals. At the end of last year it became known that the US federal trade commission (FTC), wanted to stop the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft. The FTC went to court to block the deal between the two companies. If Microsoft gets its hands on brands like Call of Duty, it has "both the opportunity and the motive" to limit competition, according to the US regulator.

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