Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision for an amount of 60 billion dollars worries the authorities. While the FTC in the US could question this historic takeover, the CMA, its British counterpart, is also forcing the tech giant to justify itself.
As part of its investigation, the British authority has requested documents from Microsoft to prove that it will not enter such a dominant position that it will harm competition, particularly Sony.
PS5 exclusive better than Xbox
On this subject, Microsoft is clear and does not hesitate to remember Sony’s position in the video game industry, even if it means shooting itself in the foot. “In addition to being the dominant console supplier, Sony is also a strong game publisher” explains Microsoft. And to add:
Sony is about the same size as Activision and almost double Microsoft’s game publishing (…) There were more than 280 exclusive titles from first and third-party vendors on Playstation in 2021, that is, almost 5 times more than on Xbox.
Primarily, Microsoft insists on the quality of the games offered by Sony and Nintendo. “Exclusive games from Sony and Nintendo are among the best sellers in Europe and worldwide, explains the American. Sony’s current exclusive content includes top titles such as The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War and Spider-Man”.
For all these reasons, it is impossible that the purchase of Activision has consequences for Microsoft’s competition with Sony or Nintendo, the company explains. In addition, Microsoft reminds that Nintendo has no games published by Activision-Blizzard. But the company shows excellent results not only on sales of consoles, but also on sales of games.
Microsoft’s takeover of Activision threatened
Faced with all sides of the competition authorities, Microsoft must show its credentials to validate the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard.
Apart from the arguments made by the company, strong actions have already demonstrated the good will of the company. Shortly after announcing the acquisition, Microsoft first assured that Activision’s flagship games would still be released on Playstation, including Call of Duty.
The company made good on that commitment this week by offering a contract to Sony guaranteeing the release of Call of Duty on Playsation for the next ten years.
However, the Politico website published an article on November 24, 2022, explaining that the members of the US commission are currently unconvinced by the arguments put forward by Microsoft.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the US regulator is preparing to launch an antitrust action against Microsoft. It is bad news for the company, which must also be held responsible for this historic takeover by the European authorities, who have also opened an investigation.