In a potential very interesting twist to Microsoft's legal battle over trying to get their purchase of Activision Blizzard approve, there is now a possibility the Call of Duty series could be owned by someone else not named MS or Activision.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently issued a report stating that their main objection to MS's purchase attempt revolves around ownership of the CoD series. The CMA currently feels MS owning the CoD series on top of everything else from AB is too much in terms of marketshare power for a single company. They hinted that if Activision were to first sell off their CoD series to someone else, then they would have less of an issue of MS buying up AB.
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Originally Posted by The Verge
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) already expressed concerns about Microsoft’s plans to acquire Activision Blizzard last year, but it now says the deal could harm UK gamers. The CMA has published provisional findings in its investigation into the Microsoft and Activision deal and found that it “could result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers.” The CMA has offered up possible remedies that include Microsoft being forced to sell off Activision Blizzard’s business associated with Call of Duty.
The CMA makes it clear that it’s mainly concerned about two things: cloud gaming and game exclusivity. “The evidence available to the CMA currently indicates that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service (or only available on other services under materially worse conditions),” says the UK regulator ...
The CMA has now suggested a set of possible remedies that Microsoft could take to get approval for the Activision Blizzard acquisition in the UK. They include a suggestion for a structural remedy that involves a partial divestiture of Activision Blizzard in the form of selling off the Call of Duty business. Other remedies include selling off the Activision segment or the Activision and Blizzard segments that would include the business associated with Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and other games.
None of these remedies are favorable for Microsoft, and the company was likely hoping for behavioral remedies like agreements to ensure Call of Duty and other Activision games are available on rival cloud gaming services and limitations on exclusivity for games across consoles. The CMA says “behavioral remedies are less likely to have an effective impact,” and it’s essentially ruling out that route in these provisional findings unless the regulator is “confident that the remedy was capable of effective implementation, monitoring, and enforcement" ...
The CMA does leave the door open for a potential remedy in the form of access to Call of Duty. Microsoft offered Sony a 10-year deal on Call of Duty games, and the CMA says it will consider this and other contractual arrangements as a potential behavioral access remedy. While the CMA clearly favors structural remedies like selling off the Call of Duty business, there could be room for Microsoft to offer up more solutions that the CMA will consider in the coming weeks ...
While the CMA is just a single regulator for the UK, it still heavily influences how US-based companies operate in the UK and Europe. Meta was forced to sell off Giphy following an order from the UK competition watchdog last year. With regulators worldwide looking to take tougher stances on Big Tech acquisitions, the CMA’s findings could influence how the European Commission responds, too.
The CMA is now looking for responses from the industry by February 22nd to its possible remedies, followed by responses to the provisional findings by March 1st. These will all be considered ahead of the CMA issuing its final report, which is due by April 26th.
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Link:
https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/8/23...s-call-of-duty