The CMA invited the general public to share their ideas on the Microsoft Activision Blizzard merger as a part of its inquiry into the pending acquisition. The CMA revealed that it obtained over 2,100 emails throughout this part and that “round three quarters had been broadly in favor of the Merger and round 1 / 4 had been broadly towards the Merger.”
Among the responses the CMA obtained and shared as a part of its briefing included views resembling “Sony and Nintendo are stronger than Microsoft in console gaming, and the Merger will assist Microsoft compete extra carefully towards them;” and “The Merger is a response to Sony’s enterprise mannequin for PlayStation, which has traditionally concerned securing unique content material or early entry to standard cross-platform gaming franchises, resembling Final Fantasy and Silent Hill.”
Views from these towards the Merger included responses resembling “Microsoft is already dominant in PC working techniques, and this Merger is an try to realize the same place in gaming,” and “this is able to be the most important merger in gaming historical past, paving the way in which for a possible string of future acquisitions of publishers resembling Take Two, EA, Ubisoft, thereby growing focus available in the market.”
The UK opened up its investigation to public opinion in October after finishing the primary two phases of its investigation into the Microsoft-Activision merger. The CMA plans to maintain gathering proof and publish provisional findings earlier than a remaining report which remains to be months away.
Meanwhile, the deal continues to be beneath scrutiny because the U.S. FTC introduced it plans to sue to dam the acquisition, calling the deal dangerous to competitors in “high-performance gaming consoles and subscriptions.”