The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has concluded its initial investigation of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, making the decision that the deal requires a more in-depth “phase 2” investigation.
In its report, the CMA has determined that the deal will be “giving rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition in gaming consoles, multi-game subscription services, and cloud gaming services.”
Crucially, the CMA decided the deal would have a large impact on the success of rival platforms: “Evidence consistently pointed towards ABK’s content, especially Call of Duty, as being important and capable of making a material difference to the success of rivals’ gaming platforms.”
“ABK invests significant time and capital in creating regular Call of Duty releases, which consistently rank as some of the most popular games,” the CMA wrote. “These titles require thousands of game developers and several years to complete, and there are very few other games of similar calibre or popularity.”