{"id":126074,"date":"2022-11-14T15:34:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T13:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=126074"},"modified":"2022-11-14T16:21:05","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T14:21:05","slug":"european-commission-to-investigate-microsofts-takeover-of-activision-blizzard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/126074-european-commission-to-investigate-microsofts-takeover-of-activision-blizzard","title":{"rendered":"European Commission to investigate Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft Corp.\u2019s proposed $69 billion takeover of games developer Activision Blizzard Inc. faces an in-depth European Union probe after regulators said they\u2019re concerned the software giant could thwart access to blockbuster franchises such as\u00a0Call of Duty<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The European Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that Microsoft may \u201cforeclose access to Activision Blizzard\u2019s console and PC video games, especially to high-profile and highly successful games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s merger watchdog set a March 23 deadline for its so-called phase 2 investigation.<\/p>\n

The combination with Activision — which owns some of the\u00a0most popular\u00a0games also including\u00a0World of Warcraft<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Guitar Hero<\/em>\u00a0— would make Microsoft the world\u2019s third-largest gaming company and boost the Xbox maker\u2019s roster of titles for its Game Pass subscribers.<\/p>\n

But the deal is already facing protracted scrutiny from antitrust agencies across the globe.<\/p>\n

Microsoft last month\u00a0accused the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority of relying on \u201cself-serving\u201d input from rival Sony Group Corp in its deliberations.<\/p>\n

The US Federal Trade Commission is also reviewing the transaction, including looking into how it might impact workers.<\/p>\n

Microsoft said in a statement it will work with the EU to address any \u201cvalid\u201d marketplace concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cSony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about\u00a0Call of Duty<\/em>, but we\u2019ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation,\u201d the company added.<\/p>\n

Activision Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick said in a letter to employees that the company is working \u201ccooperatively with regulators in other jurisdictions, and the process is moving along as we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he anticipates the deal to close in Microsoft\u2019s current fiscal year ending next June.<\/p>\n

The EU last month\u00a0quizzed\u00a0video games developers, publishers, distributors, competing operating systems and providers of cloud services about the possible negative effects of the deal.<\/p>\n

EU regulators said Tuesday their preliminary probe showed the deal could \u201csignificantly reduce competition on the markets for the distribution of console and PC video games,\u201d including multi-game subscription services, cloud game streaming services, and for PC operating systems.<\/p>\n

The deal could give Microsoft \u201cthe ability, as well as a potential economic incentive, to engage in foreclosure strategies\u201d with rival distributors of console video games, the EU watchdog said.<\/p>\n

The commission said it sees the same risk for rival providers of PC operating systems.<\/p>\n

Read More: Sony Calls Microsoft’s ‘Call of Duty’ offer inadequate\u00a0<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU regulators are concerned that Microsoft and Activision’s merger could seriously reduce market competition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":126077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[587,91],"class_list":["post-126074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-xbox","tag-activision","tag-microsoft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126075,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126074\/revisions\/126075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}