The CMA now reckons Microsoft can't cut off its competitors from COD without losing money, even though it said the opposite last month.
If you can cast your mind as far back as last month, you might recall the UK's Competition and Markets Authority suggested that if Microsoft was truly serious about acquiring Activision Blizzard, it should consider. The market regulator was particularly concerned about Call of Duty, so much so that all of the ways it proposed Microsoft could satisfy it involved breaking off COD from the rest of Activision, one way or another.
That's quite the 180! While the CMA says it still has worries about the impact the acquisition will have on cloud gaming, it's no longer concerned that Microsoft will decide to yoink COD away from its competitors in the event the deal goes through unmodified. Why? It's all in the numbers. Although its original data"indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios" for Microsoft, the CMA has since gotten new info—which it says"provides better insight into the actual purchasing behaviour of COD gamers"—and concluded that withholding access to COD"would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario" for Microsoft, which"will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on...
Activision's execs are pretty thrilled about it, too: In a statement to PC Gamer, an Activision spokesperson said that the new findings"show an improved understanding of the console gaming market and demonstrate a commitment to supporting players and competition," and that"Microsoft has already presented effective and enforceable remedies to address each of the CMA’s remaining concerns".
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