The takeover of Activision by Microsoft for an amount of 60 billion dollars worries the authorities. While in the United States, the FTC could question this historic takeover, the CMA, its British counterpart, also forces 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 find itself in such a dominant position that it would harm competition, in particular Sony.
PS5 exclusives better than Xbox ones
On this subject, Microsoft is clear and does not hesitate to recall 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 powerful game publisher” explains Microsoft. And to add:
Sony is about the same size as Activision and nearly double in Microsoft’s game publishing (…) There were more than 280 first-party and third-party exclusive titles on Playstation in 2021, i.e. almost 5 times more than on Xbox.
Above all, 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 acquisition of Activision has consequences on the competition of Microsoft with Sony or Nintendo explains the company. Moreover, Microsoft recalls that Nintendo does not have any games published by Activision-Blizzard. However, the company shows excellent results not only on the sale of consoles but also on the sale of games.
Microsoft takeover of Activision under threat
Jostled from all sides by the competition authorities, Microsoft must show its credentials to validate the takeover of Activision-Blizzard.
Apart from the arguments put forward by the company, strong acts have already demonstrated the good will of the company. Shortly after the takeover announcement, Microsoft first assured that Activision’s flagship games would still be released on Playstation, including Call of Duty.
The company delivered on that commitment this week by offering a contract to Sony guaranteeing the release of Call of Duty on Playsation for ten years to come.
However, the Politico site published an article on November 24, 2022 explaining that for the moment, the members of the American commission are not convinced by the arguments put forward by Microsoft.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the American regulator is preparing to launch an antitrust action against Microsoft. This is bad news for the company, which will also have to answer for this historic takeover from the European authorities, who have also opened an investigation.