The UK's CMA has issued a strongly-worded statement following the European Commission's decision to approve Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard:
, saying that the proposed deal would"no longer raise competition concerns and would ultimately unlock significant benefits for competition and consumers." Following this, UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority — which recently blocked the deal — has released a punchy response slamming the European regulator's decision."The UK, US and European competition authorities are unanimous that this merger would harm competition in cloud gaming, the CMA said on.
"Microsoft’s proposals, accepted by the European Commission today, would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next ten years. They would replace a free, open and competitive market with one subject to ongoing regulation of the games Microsoft sells, the platforms to which it sells them, and the conditions of sale. This is one of the reasons the CMA’s independent panel group rejected Microsoft’s proposals and prevented this deal.
"While we recognise and respect that the European Commission is entitled to take a different view, the CMA stands by its decision." The European Commission initially concluded that the deal could harm competition in the distribution of games via cloud game streaming services, but Microsoft's remedies to the concerns managed to sway the regulator in its favor. According to the EU, Microsoft offered 10-year licensing commitments that would allow European consumers to stream all current and future Activision Blizzard console and PC games for which they own a license for via any cloud gaming service.
Microsoft previously announced that it will appeal the CMA's ruling, which Microsoft president Brad Smith has called"
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