Reuters
News from the NOS•
The European Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into Microsoft’s acquisition of game maker Activision Blizzard. The American tech group wants to pay around $ 70 billion for the game’s producer. Brussels fears that the competitive position of other companies suffers too much.
Microsoft announced the acquisition in January but the US, UK and European competition authorities have yet to give approval. If the deal goes through, it will be the largest technology acquisition ever.
The European Commission fears that the acquisition will lead to less competition, higher prices, less quality and less innovation. Microsoft’s competitors fear they like very popular Activision games call of Duty in the future it will only be released for Microsoft products such as Xbox and Windows.
Play station
Sony, the manufacturer of the Playstation, then complained about the acquisition. This week it became clear that the shooting game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2it has already grossed $ 1 billion since its start of sales on October 28th.
Microsoft is committed call of Duty to keep it available for Playstation for several years, because there is a contract with Sony. The company is also considering releasing the game for Nintendo’s popular Switch, on which the game is currently unplayable.
The committee is also concerned that Microsoft is using the Activision acquisition to further increase its power in the PC market. The committee has until March 23, 2023 to make a decision on the acquisition.
