No one said the road was easy. Not short. At the beginning of 2022, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard surprised with one of the announcements not only of the year, but probably of the decade in the technology sector, both due to its implications and economic scope: those of Redmond would take over the video game studio from Santa Mnica, behind such successful sagas as ‘Call of Duty’, ‘Diablo’ or ‘Warcraft, for a dizzying outlay of 68.700 million dollars.
That was a year ago, but the operation continues to face challenges due to its potential impact on the market. And draft. The biggest of all, perhaps, is the mistrust of the US regulatory body itself, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which in December filed a lawsuit to block the operation for the damage it believes could cause to market competition. . “Microsoft has already shown that it can and will remove content from its rivals in the video game industry,” the FTC’s Competition Director went on to say.
That of the FTC is not, however, the only fear that the multinational led by Satya Nadella will have to overcome if it wants to bring the operation to a successful conclusion. Politico has revealed that the EU has just sent Microsoft a formal antitrust warning, a statement with objections in which the community authorities would explain the reasons why the agreement announced in 2022, at least in its current terms, could threaten competition in the market.
An in-depth investigation
The news is hardly surprising. In mid-January Reuters was already advancing that the Union would probably end up sending an antitrust warning to Microsoft. Neither Poltico nor the news agency go into detail about the content or the exact points on which the EU technicians would affect, but the document would basically collect the concerns generated by the agreement. Politico speaks specifically of reasons why the pact “could threaten fair competition.”
The document is not strange in major mergers such as the one Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are trying to achieve and it certainly does not mean that the operation will be vetoed, but it is a milestone in the process. The European Commission decided in November to open an “in-depth” investigation into the agreement and still has some margin, until April 11to take a decision.
Already then the community body showed its concern about the agreement: “Microsoft may have the capacity, as well as a potential economic incentive, to undertake exclusion strategies against Microsoft’s rival console video game distributors, such as preventing these companies from distributing Activision Blizzard video games on consoles or downgrading the terms and conditions for your use of or access to these games.”
Microsoft has come out again to calm things down and ensure that it listens carefully to instructions from the EU. We are committed to solutions and finding a way forward for this agreement, David Cuddy, a company spokesman, told The Verge, after revealing the last step in Brussels. We listen carefully to concerns and are confident we can address them.”
We keep working with the EC to address any market concerns. Our goal is to bring more games to more people and this agreement will further that goal,” the multinational stresses to Reuters in reference to the warnings.
The company is also facing misgivings from Sony, the FTC’s lawsuit and the concerns of the UK regulator, which considers that the operation poses problems for competition. As Bloomberg collects, the acquisition requires the approval of 16 jurisdictions, including the British authority itself, the European Commission and the US federal body.
Also in crast.net: Microsoft claims not to know when ‘Call of Duty’ was released. Any excuse is good in the Activision trial
