The proposed acquisition from the game developer Activision Blizzard Inc. from Microsoft Corp. for a value of 69,000 million dollars faces a in-depth investigation of the European Union after regulators said they were concerned that the software giant could prevent access to successful franchises like Call of Duty.
The European Commission said in a statement Tuesday that Microsoft could “disable access to Activision Blizzard video games for computers and consoles, especially the most important and successful games. ”The EU merger supervisor has set a deadline of 23 March for its so-called phase 2 investigation.
The combination with Activision, which owns some of the most popular games like World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero, would make it Microsoft is the third largest gaming company in the world and would increase the Xbox manufacturer’s list of titles for its Game Pass subscribers.
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But the deal already faces lengthy scrutiny by antitrust agencies of all the world. Microsoft last month accused the UK Competition and Markets Authority of relying on “interested” input from rival Sony Group Corp. for its decisions. The US Federal Trade Commission is also looking into the transaction, including an investigation into how it might affect workers.
Microsoft said in a statement that it will work with the EU to address “valid” market concerns. “Sony, as an industry leader, says they are concerned about Call of Duty, but we said we are committed to making the same game available on both Xbox and PlayStation on the same day,” the company added.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said in a letter to employees that the company is working “in partnership with regulators elsewhere and the process is progressing as planned.” He added that he expects the deal to end in Microsoft’s current fiscal year ending in June next year.
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Last month, the EU questioned game developers, publishers, distributors, competing operating systems and cloud service providers about the potential negative effects of the agreement.
Los EU regulators They noted on Tuesday that their preliminary investigation showed that the deal could “significantly reduce competition in the markets for the distribution of video games for consoles and computers”, Including multi-game subscription services, cloud game streaming services and computer operating systems.
The deal could give Microsoft “the ability, in addition to a potential financial incentive, to engage in early exit strategies” with rival console video game distributors, the EU regulator said. The Commission said it sees the same risk for competing computer operating system vendors.
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