Regulators will force Microsoft to sell Call of Duty to close deal to buy Activision

Regulatory buying pressure Activision Blizzard He grows. to the point that Microsoft could be forced to sell call of Dutyif he wants the $68.700 million acquisition approved.

This is evidenced by the preliminary findings of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). One of three key territories – along with the United States and the European Union – for the implementation of the agreement.

In their latest document, UK regulators have included the concessions that Microsoft must be willing to make in order for the purchase of Activision Blizzard to be completed. They cover sales processes which, one way or another, would force the Americans to part with call of Duty.

The CMA’s proposal argument is that buying Activision Blizzard could lead to “higher prices, more limited alternatives and less innovation for gamers in the UK”. In addition, the UK authorities believe that the deal will strengthen Microsoft’s dominance in the cloud gaming segment. And? weaken the rivalry between Xbox and PlayStation in the world of consoles.

UK requires Microsoft to sell call of Duty

The CMA concession offer no doubt hit the Microsoft offices like a bucket of ice water. This is what, after all, call of Duty This is one of the main reasons, if not the most important, why the Redmonds decided to spend a monstrous amount of money on the purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Phil Spencerxbox leader, has long recognized that call of Duty the reason why they are willing to spend nearly $69 billion. And that it didn’t make sense to bring up the issue of ending the franchise offer on PlayStation, since that’s the most important console version the game has. shooter from the first person.

“If we analyze the assessment of this contract, it is not difficult to understand that a considerable part of it belongs to income call of Duty on the PlayStation. Pay what we will pay for all of Activision Blizzard King and then damage that asset by saying “We are going to remove the major version of call of Duty billions and billions of dollars would literally be wiped out of the face of the earth on consoles, and Activision would lose all its value, ”he said.

Thus, the concessions offered by the CMA to approve the purchase of Activision Blizzard are undoubtedly will be taken as nonsense in Redmond.

What does the UK CMA propose to approve the purchase of Activision Blizzard?

The UK regulatory document mentions the definition of “possible structural concessions”. These include that Microsoft faces three possible scenarios for selling Activision Blizzard:

• First, that it distance itself from all matters related to call of Duty;
• Second, sell the Activision segment, including call of Duty— and stay alone with Blizzard;
• The third, which sells both Activision and Blizzard segments. This would prevent him from gaining control not only over call of Dutybut also from other franchises such as World of Warcraft.

But the story doesn’t end there. The proposal also states that a merger ban can be issued and that the deal did not go through.

It’s clear that what the CMA says isn’t final, and it’s not something that Microsoft has to follow with eyes closed today. It is likely that the Redmonds will struggle with the aforementioned possibilities and will look for a way to offer other types of concessions oppose the actions of regulatory bodies. However, this is still an unfavorable scenario in terms of final acquisition approval findings.

Buying Activision Blizzard today without call of Duty does not make sense for Microsoft. It remains to be seen how this novel will continue. The final decision of the UK regulators will be announced on 26 April.