Microsoft has announced that it plans to appeal today’s decision by the UK Competition and Markets Authority to block the company’s $69 billion acquisition of game publisher Activision Blizzard.
In a Twitter postMicrosoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith sent this statement:
We are fully committed to this achievement and will appeal. The CMA’s decision rejects a practical way forward to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the UK. We have already signed agreements to make Activision Blizzard’s popular games available on an additional 150 million devices, and we are committed to strengthening these agreements through regulatory remedies. We are particularly disappointed that, after much consideration, this decision reflects a misunderstanding of the market and the way related cloud technologies work.
Microsoft has recently struck several deals with rival cloud gaming services around the world, including NVIDIA Geforce Now, Boosteroid, and Ubitus, with its games, and Activision Blizzard’s games, on those services for at least 10 years. are available for
However, this was apparently not enough for the UKCMA, which said that Microsoft’s contracts were “not sufficiently open to suppliers who wish to offer versions of games on PC operating systems other than Windows “
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick also posted his reaction to the CMA’s decision On the company website. He stated:
Along with Microsoft, we can and will contest this decision, and we have already started working to appeal to the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal. We are confident in our case because the facts are on our side: this deal is good for competition.
The UK hopes to increase its leadership position in technology, and a joint Microsoft-Activision will do just that. At a time when the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence are evolving, we know that the UK market will benefit from Microsoft’s bench strength in both domains, as well as our ability to quickly deploy these technologies. . Conversely, if the CMA’s decision is upheld, it will stifle investment, competition and job creation in the UK gaming industry.
It looks like Microsoft and Activision aren’t giving up on Blizzard, but it remains to be seen if the appeal process will be successful.
