The European Commission feel the deal could reduce competition significantly
The EU’s business competition regulators are deepening their investigation into Microsoft’s planned$68.7 billion(£60 billion) deal to acquire Call Of Duty andOverwatchpublisher Activision Blizzard. The intention to conduct an in-depth investigation was announced in astatementon the European Commission’s website, and will focus on how the deal will affect console and PC games, along with PC operating systems. This means that both the EU and UK are now holding further investigations into the potential buyout of Activision Blizzard due to concerns that Microsoft’s acquisition of the company could reduce competition within the games industry.
The UK’s competition regulators, the Competition And Markets Authority,decidedat the start of September to go ahead with an in-depth secondary investigation into the potential Activision Blizzard buyout, citing similar concerns to the EU body. Microsoft has insisted that buying Activision Blizzard won’t affect big name series such as Call Of Duty, going as far as to say that theyaren’t “must have” games. They later clarified to us that they meant that as a “legal term of art” rather than placing value on the output of Activision Blizzard’s development teams.
We’ll continue to keep you updated on Microsoft’s proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard as it develops.
Activision Blizzard are currently the subject of a number oflegal actions,labour disputesand allegations ofworkplace harassment. Rock Paper Shotgun will continue to write about these issues, as well as covering Activision Blizzard games as part of our commitment to cover subjects of interest to our readers. The latest news can always be found under ourActivision Blizzardtag.
