Sony welcomes the announcement of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to continue investigating the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
In a statement sent to the media, Sony said that letting Microsoft control Activision games, such as Call of Duty, would have a significant negative impact on players and the gaming industry going forward.
“We want to ensure PS players continue to have the highest quality gaming experience, and we appreciate the CMA’s focus on player protection,” Sony said.
The deal was investigated further.
Once the news broke, Microsoft responded. “Given PlayStation’s market leadership position in the console space, it doesn’t make business sense for Microsoft to remove Call of Duty from its platform,” Microsoft said.
Earlier this month, the CMA announced that it would upgrade Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard to phase two, meaning the regulator will conduct a deeper investigation into the market impact of the purchase. again.
The CMA listed a number of reasons for this decision, but chief among them is Call of Duty’s value in console sales. Their concern is that Microsoft could make Call of Duty one on Xbox in the future, severely affecting future PlayStation sales.
Microsoft has promised to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for “a few more years”, but PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan replied that it is “not enough on many levels”. It seems that only one side of this debate has achieved satisfactory results.
The acquisition of Microsoft Activision is expected to face further investigations in the UK, EU. Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is expected to be widely investigated by UK and EU regulators.
Earlier this month, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority recommended initiating a phase two investigation into the impact of the deal, concerned that Microsoft’s ownership of Activision Blizzard would “significantly reduce the compete in a UK market or markets”.
Microsoft had five business days to provide evidence that could allay these concerns, but the Financial Times reported that it failed to do so. Sources familiar with the matter say that Microsoft believes there is no clear commitment it can make that the CMA can accept. Therefore, an in-depth investigation is expected to begin this week.
