Microsoft and Activision
When Microsoft attempted to acquire Activision last year, it was probably aware of the many obstacles it would find in its way. In the United Kingdom, however, the situation continues to be more complicated than elsewhere and today the CMA (or the British antitrust) decided to publish a new report, which continues to show all the difficulties of this deal.
Let's obviously start from the beginning: the new CMA report is not defined. This is a sort of provisional analysis, which however comes months after the first doubts and the first complaints raised against Microsoft regarding the acquisition ofa> Activision Blizzard. Today, with this new publication, these doubts are even stronger and a natural stop could really be around the corner.
In the documents, published today, the CMA admits that it has several doubts regarding the acquisition. According to the British antitrust, this deal could cause damage to players and result in higher prices, less choice or better innovation. Obviously legitimate doubts, which only increase the risk that this acquisition (worth almost 70 billion US dollars) could be stopped. The publication of the CMA is in fact the first to appear on the market, after the various postponements on the acquisition issued in Australia and in the European Union.
As we said at the beginning, the CMA has not yet expressed a definitive verdict. Microsoft has already commented on the new report, making itself available to "clarify and provide solutions for all the doubts of the CMA", as reported in a press release sent to Eurogamer colleagues. However, the situation is certainly not the best and the feeling is that the scenario will be repeated again when the European Union publishes its reports. We will update you as soon as there are further details and news in the pipeline.
Video reviews, previews and specials await you on our YouTube channel.