Team Blitz India
LONDON: British regulators last week blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy American video game company Activision Blizzard over worries that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market.
The Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report that “the only effective remedy” to the significant loss of competition that the deal would result in “is to prohibit the merger. The all-cash deal was set to be the biggest in the history of the tech industry. But it faces stiff opposition from rival Sony and is also being scrutinized by regulators in the U.S. and Europe over fears that it would give Microsoft control of popular game franchises like Call of Duty.
Microsoft won’t give up
Microsoft said it was disappointed and signaled it wasn’t ready to give up. “We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal,” President Brad Smith said in a statement. He said the U.K. watchdog’s decision “rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns” and discourages tech innovation and investment in the United Kingdom. Activision also fired back, saying it would “work aggressively with Microsoft to reverse this on appeal.” According to an analysis by Sean Hollister in The Verge, “The Activision Blizzard deal could actually have been the biggest shot in the arm for cloud gaming ever because Microsoft promised to sweeten the pot with huge concessions to other players in the market.
But the UK regulator still voted against the merger as it doubted the company’s noble intentions of keeping its word later.
