In April the company was denied a bid to buy Activision in the UK; Microsoft is appealing the decision and a positive decision could put pressure on the US regulator
Microsoft promised and delivered. Redmond appealed against the CMA’s (United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority, in Portuguese) refusal to buy Activision. The CMA argued that by blocking the acquisition, Microsoft would harm competition in the cloud gaming service.
When the British equivalent of our CADE body released the decision in April, Microsoft said it would appeal the ban. The appeal was opened a month after the CMA rejected the purchase of Activision by the owner of Xbox. Microsoft’s appeal request was revealed by Bloomberg reporter Kathryn Gemmell, who specializes in legal coverage, who confirmed the appeal with a company representative.
The CMA defends that the merger would bring about unfair competition
The CMA’s reason for rejecting Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision was that the merger would create unfair competition in the cloud gaming segment. The British regulator believes sales of the Call of Duty series, partnerships and even Activision’s promises to offer games on competing platforms are not enough to avoid a monopoly.
When the decision was announced in April, the press and Microsoft were surprised. This is because the CMA issued an initial report in March saying it saw no risk of reducing competition between consoles. There is no date for hearing the appeal.
Microsoft has approved the purchase in the EU
If things were bad in England, the other side of the English Channel was better. On May 15, the European Commission approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision with reservations. In order for the acquisition to continue, the Windows company needs to expand access to Activision games to the competition.
With information: Video Games Chronicles
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