The seemingly endless saga of the Microsoft-Activision buyout continues, with a new update from the United Kingdom. The country's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has prevented Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, over concerns of the buyout resulting in competition problems. While the CMA did side with Microsoft last month, that was on the grounds of competition in console gaming--this time around, the decision was made after considering the cloud gaming market, which it believed the merger would "damage competition [...] leading to less innovation and choice" by having all of Activision's library available on Xbox Game Pass.

The CMA carefully considered whether the benefit of having Activision’s content available on Game Pass outweighed the harm that the merger would cause to competition in cloud gaming in the UK. The CMA found that this new payment option, while beneficial to some customers, would not outweigh the overall harm to competition (and, ultimately, UK gamers) arising from this merger, particularly given the incentive for Microsoft to increase the cost of a Game Pass subscription post-merger to reflect the addition of Activision’s valuable games.

Directly following the CMA's decision, stocks of Activision Blizzard fell as much as 8%. Microsoft stated that they would be appealing the decision, however, the deal would still need to be passed by similar regulators in the US and EU, which it is currently struggling to do so, regardless of the decision made by the UK, though it has been initially approved by Japan, Brazil, and South Africa. Should acquisition be impossible, or talks break down completely, Microsoft will owe Activision a whopping $3 billion, as a result of having to terminate the merger contract.

Microsoft already enjoys a powerful position and head start over other competitors in cloud gaming and this deal would strengthen that advantage giving it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors.

Microsoft engaged constructively with us to try to address these issues and we are grateful for that, but their proposals were not effective to remedy our concerns and would have replaced competition with ineffective regulation in a new and dynamic market.

Cloud gaming needs a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice. That is best achieved by allowing the current competitive dynamics in cloud gaming to continue to do their job.

Source

 

[danny19901]

My personal opinion it's a good thing really Xbox are a dodgy company back in the day Rare mostly made games for Nintendo

Xbox bought them
Sony gets Exclusives from Bethesda
Xbox buys them
Sony also have somewhat of exclusivity with Activision where crash trilogy released early and Call Of Duty games have been getting given away as part of PSN+ as well as some exclusive content and then suddenly Xbox wanted to buy them.

Xbox can't compete with there own studios and as of now honestly don't even think they know what there doing I mean fable given to a studio with no experience in that style of game also Halo Infinite was a mess when shown off where they postponed it and yet Xbox have all these studios but laid off 1000's of Devs I mean where is hell blade 2, Fable and more so many games have been shown off but still nothing at all I mean what is Rare working on now? As far as I'm aware nothing unless sea of thieves.

Honestly don't think Xbox should be allowed to acquire more studios tbh I also think Xbox is damaging the gaming industry with the whole game pass and other stupid things like launching so many consoles with different specs Devs honestly wouldn't want to be supporting them all.

Sent from my 2201122G using Tapatalk

 

[Xzi]

this time around, the decision was made after considering the cloud gaming market, which it believed the merger would "damage competition [...] leading to less innovation and choice" by having all of Activision's library available on Xbox Game Pass.

Can you even play games from the cloud with Game Pass? I thought it always required you download them first on PC and Xbox, but maybe I missed a feature announcement.

Edit: yeah never mind, I already knew in the back of my mind that you can stream games to Steam Deck using Game Pass on Edge.

 

[x65943]

So like can every country in the world that these companies operate in try to put a stop on their merger?

At what point are they infringing on US sovereignty by impeding the merger of two US companies

 

[danny19901]

Can you even play games from the cloud with Game Pass? I thought it always required you download them first on PC and Xbox, but maybe I missed a feature announcement.

Xbox has there own cloud gaming service.

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[Chary]

Can you even play games from the cloud with Game Pass? I thought it always required you download them first on PC and Xbox, but maybe I missed a feature announcement.

I assume they're referring to xCloud, which is part of Game Pass Ultimate?

 

[HarveyHouston]

My personal opinion it's a good thing really Xbox are a dodgy company back in the day Rare mostly made games for Nintendo

Xbox bought them
Sony gets Exclusives from Bethesda
Xbox buys them
Sony also have somewhat of exclusivity with Activision where crash trilogy released early and Call Of Duty games have been getting given away as part of PSN+ as well as some exclusive content and then suddenly Xbox wanted to buy them.

Xbox can't compete with there own studios and as of now honestly don't even think they know what there doing I mean fable given to a studio with no experience in that style of game also Halo Infinite was a mess when shown off where they postponed it and yet Xbox have all these studios but laid off 1000's of Devs I mean where is hell blade 2, Fable and more so many games have been shown off but still nothing at all I mean what is Rare working on now? As far as I'm aware nothing unless sea of thieves.

Honestly don't think Xbox should be allowed to acquire more studios tbh I also think Xbox is damaging the gaming industry with the whole game pass and other stupid things like launching so many consoles with different specs Devs honestly wouldn't want to be supporting them all.

Sent from my 2201122G using Tapatalk

You have a bit of a point. Xbox is buying out gaming companies in order to have a stronger presence in game development, but it seems they're wanting to completely wipe out the competition, which is actually against the laws of various regions.

It's ironic with this one, though - Microsoft saw that CMA would ban it if it became exclusive on a local basis, so they make a deal with Nintendo, but now it's the cloud platform that the CMA is worried over. Microsoft is wanting this company soooooooooooo baaaaaaaaad!!! So much so, it's suspicious.

 

[KingVamp]

So, will they just get broken up, if this fails?

 

[ZeroFX]

I hope this acquisition goes bad, ms has too much and screw actiblizz.

 

[Kunty]

So like can every country in the world that these companies operate in try to put a stop on their merger?

At what point are they infringing on US sovereignty by impeding the merger of two US companies

Because they operate outside of the US they need approval from various governing bodies in the other countries they operate in. If they operated exclusively in the US they wouldn't need approval from anyone else. So potentially any country can put a stop to the merger. It just happens to be the UK that decided to stop it.

 

[x65943]

Because they operate outside of the US they need approval from various governing bodies in the other countries they operate in. If they operated exclusively in the US they wouldn't need approval from anyone else. So potentially any country can put a stop to the merger. It just happens to be the UK that decided to stop it.

Sorta ridiculous, but realistically can they really stop a company from merging for just one region?

What would they do if it went ahead anyway - big fine? Bar further business transactions?

 

[Xzi]

So, will they just get broken up, if this fails?

The merger continues to be delayed and/or blocked, so Activision-Blizzard would remain its own company, just as it is now.

Hard to say whether or not Microsoft only wants AB for Call of Duty, but they can't do worse with Blizzard IPs than what's being done to them now (MTX hell).

 

[MariArch]

Just delaying the inevitable, let’s be honest here.

 

[Kioku]

The merger continues to be delayed and/or blocked, so Activision-Blizzard would remain its own company, just as it is now.

Hard to say whether or not Microsoft only wants AB for Call of Duty, but they can't do worse with Blizzard IPs than what's being done to them now (MTX hell).

Halo is dying and they need a new poster child… wonder if Tracer would work..

 

[Latiodile]

The merger continues to be delayed and/or blocked, so Activision-Blizzard would remain its own company, just as it is now.

Hard to say whether or not Microsoft only wants AB for Call of Duty, but they can't do worse with Blizzard IPs than what's being done to them now (MTX hell).

they want it for king

 

[MariArch]

Halo is dying and they need a new poster child… wonder if Tracer would work..

No way. Besides call of duty many of these ips are mid or hardly as popular as they were in their prime. There’s a reason activision is seeking acquisition.

 

[Kioku]

No way. Besides call of duty many of these ips are mid or hardly as popular as they were in their prime. There’s a reason activision is seeking acquisition.

I know, was making a slight jab if I’m honest. I’m actually baffled as to why MS is wanting to pay that price..

 

[rickmh81]

Sony ponies are crying.

 

[KingVamp]

The merger continues to be delayed and/or blocked, so Activision-Blizzard would remain its own company, just as it is now.

Right, but eventually they want to sell themselves somehow or do you think Activation can survive on its own?

 

[Maq47]

do you think Activation can survive on its own?

Only if you have your Windows Product Key.