UK regulator U-turns on Activision acquisition, takes Microsoft's side on Call of Duty

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The CMA now reckons Microsoft can't cut off its competitors from COD without losing money, even though it said the opposite last month.

If you can cast your mind as far back as last month, you might recall the UK's Competition and Markets Authority suggested that if Microsoft was truly serious about acquiring Activision Blizzard, it should consider. The market regulator was particularly concerned about Call of Duty, so much so that all of the ways it proposed Microsoft could satisfy it involved breaking off COD from the rest of Activision, one way or another.

That's quite the 180! While the CMA says it still has worries about the impact the acquisition will have on cloud gaming, it's no longer concerned that Microsoft will decide to yoink COD away from its competitors in the event the deal goes through unmodified. Why? It's all in the numbers. Although its original data"indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios" for Microsoft, the CMA has since gotten new info—which it says"provides better insight into the actual purchasing behaviour of COD gamers"—and concluded that withholding access to COD"would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario" for Microsoft, which"will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on...

Activision's execs are pretty thrilled about it, too: In a statement to PC Gamer, an Activision spokesperson said that the new findings"show an improved understanding of the console gaming market and demonstrate a commitment to supporting players and competition," and that"Microsoft has already presented effective and enforceable remedies to address each of the CMA’s remaining concerns".

 

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Boy, that doesn't smell like bribery at all...

I wonder what the deciding factor was that changed their minds.

I said the same on reddit and got banned for console waring lol. Reddit is trash

Yeah maybe because sony can't keep their cake holes closed and their history of doing what they said Microsoft would do

That's right they would lose billions if they stopped giving it to their competitors

....the same microsoft that produced xboxes at a loss....for the first how many years?

They’d still make a profit. Just not nearly as much. And, shonk!, businesses like making profit

Sounds like those Sony checks stopped clearing

Ok so they have taken some backhanders and probably realised Microsoft is shit and needs all the help it gets

There's a huge difference between 'losing money' and 'making less profit'. Can money you never had be called losing money?

I mean if they don't drop cod on ps they lose all the ps sales. Same goes for steam to a lesser extent. Xbox app on PC just keeps breaking for me

Microsoft is not gonna take cod away from other consoles that is not their intentions

Probably GPT told mcsoft how to do it :)

it's almost as if their calculations were pulled out their ass last month and they've since been corrected...

I'd be very surprised if they even knew what video games were.

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UK regulator now says Microsoft Activision merger won’t significantly lessen competition in console gaming | VGCThe UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has said that it no longer believes Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard will significantly reduce competition in the console gaming space Wow what changed?! Absolutely nothing…thanks for wasting your time and ours🙄🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ Big W for Xbox Look at that. The side with most money wins. Who would of guessed? 😂 Shit box scrubs having a new years party for their STILL multi platform games though..
Source: VGC_News - 🏆 125. / 51 Read more »