The British antimonopoly regulator CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) published a response to the European Union’s decision to approve Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
In a frankly slightly strange turn of events, the CMA felt the need to double down on its decision on Twitteremphasizing the likely harm the deal would do to competition in the cloud market and reiterating its rejection of Microsoft’s proposals.
“The UK, US and European competition authorities are unanimous that this merger will harm competition in cloud gaming. The CMA concluded that cloud gaming must continue to be a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice in this fast-growing sector.
Microsoft’s proposals, adopted today by the European Commission, will allow Microsoft to set the terms for this market for the next 10 years.
They will replace a free, open and competitive market with one subject to constant regulation of the games Microsoft sells, the platforms on which it sells them, and the terms of sale.
That’s one of the reasons why the CMA, an independent panel, rejected Microsoft’s proposals and blocked the deal. While we recognize and respect that the European Commission is entitled to take a different view, the CMA stands by its decision.”
At the moment, despite the above statement of a “unanimous” position, CMA is isolated in its ruling against the deal, with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) upholding its objection but having to go through a lawsuit to actually be able to block it.
On the other hand, several national antimonopoly bodies have already approved the deal. We will have to wait and see how things develop with Microsoft vowing to appeal the CMA’s decision and with ongoing litigation in the United States. Of course, we’ll keep you posted here at TechRaptor if anything relevant is released.