Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition blocked by UK regulators

  • 📰 BGR
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 43 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 21%
  • Publisher: 63%

South Africa News News

South Africa South Africa Latest News,South Africa South Africa Headlines

The UK's CMA regulatory body blocked Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision/Blizzard purchase, citing cloud gaming competition concerns.

has hit a massive roadblock in the UK. The country’s Competition and Markets Authority regulator on Wednesday announced it decided to block the Microsoft/Activision deal, saying the acquisition would hurt competition in the cloud gaming landscape. That’s a niche of the gaming ecosystem that Microsoft largely controls, according to the CMA’s investigation.

The CMA argues that Microsoft has a strong position in cloud gaming, according to the evidence available to the regulator. Moreover, the CMA found that “Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service.” The cloud allows UK gamers to avoid buying expensive gaming consoles and PCs and gives them much more flexibility and choice as to how they play. Allowing Microsoft to take such a strong position in the cloud gaming market just as it begins to grow rapidly would risk undermining the innovation that is crucial to the development of these opportunities.The CMA is the only regulator to block the deal so far, and Microsoft is likely to appeal this new decision.

The CMA also explained some of the shortcomings of Microsoft’s proposals to address cloud computing worries:

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 234. in ZA

South Africa South Africa Latest News, South Africa South Africa Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

UK To Block Microsoft's Activision Blizzard AcquisitionMicrosoft runs into its first major block against the ActivisionBlizzard merger as the UK's CMA will be blocked by week's end. Activision BlizzardEntertainment
Source: bleedingcool - 🏆 20. / 69 Read more »

Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition blocked by UK regulatorsMicrosoft says it will appeal the decision
Source: verge - 🏆 94. / 67 Read more »

Britain blocks Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision BlizzardBritain's top competition regulator on Wednesday moved to block Microsoft's acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard.
Source: CNBC - 🏆 12. / 72 Read more »

UK regulator blocks Microsoft's Activision Blizzard merger over cloud concerns | EngadgetRegulators say the deal would hand Microsoft the bulk of the cloud gaming market..
Source: engadget - 🏆 276. / 63 Read more »