Microsoft The US tech giant wants to create more competition among game publishers, says CEO Satya Nadella, as it faces an anti-competitive investigation into its $69 billion takeover bid. Activision Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard, the US game publisher behind popular franchises like Call of Duty, Warcraft and Candy Crush, could boost Microsoft’s presence in mobile gaming where it’s been largely absent.
But the proposed acquisition faces an investigation by the European Union as regulators fear Microsoft could block access to Activision’s console and computer video games, especially globally successful games like Call of Duty.
“Our entire goal is to give players more options to be able to play [on every platform] On Thursday, Microsoft president and CEO Nadella told Tanvir Gill in an interview with CNBC that publishers have more competition.
Microsoft is largely into the console and PC gaming industry, providing access to hundreds of games through its Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass video game subscription services.
If the deal with Activision Blizzard goes through, it could help Microsoft better compete with game publishers like Tencent, known for its globally successful mobile game Honor of Kings, and Sony, which is building its PlayStation mobile gaming console. and acquired two mobile game developers. .
“Like all big business, I think regulators should look into it carefully,” Nadella added when asked how he felt about the EU coming together.
In July, Microsoft said fiscal fourth-quarter gaming revenue fell 7 percent as Xbox sales fell and lower engagement and monetization impacted content and service sales, though it was partially offset by growth. of Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.
When asked about Microsoft’s ambition in the gaming space, Nadella said, “Microsoft is not a conglomerate, I want to be very clear. It’s not about some kind of play here and productivity here.”
“The premise for us is, what is the underlying technology that we’re building that allows us to be in these diverse businesses while doing things that have value for customers? What can Microsoft uniquely do for gamers and game publishers? I think there is a lot we can do.”
“With games, for example, it’s a streaming workload for us. It helps us build the right cloud infrastructure. Think of AI, these AI-created models, differently and how they can be used in both creating and testing games, Nadella said.
When asked what the next step would be if the deal with Activision Blizzard doesn’t go through, Nadella said, “We’ve been playing for decades. We’ll keep playing.”
