According to several reports, representatives of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority/CMA have announced that a number of problems have emerged while investigating the biggest deal in the history of the gaming industry – namely, of course, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Under the rules, the regulator collected feedback from third parties, and acknowledged that it was concerned that Microsoft, post-merger, would be able to exercise its control over popular games.
The examples cited here were, of course, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Leveraging control over these titles would hurt competitors – which include recent and future rivals in multi-game subscription services, as well as cloud gaming.
However, it is worth noting here that the commission has not finished its investigation. Should the office’s concerns not be resolved, the CMA will instead opt for an additional investigation.
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