The company was auditioned in Brussels by the European competition regulator. A contract with Nintendo has been announced in order to offer the series of shooting games on its consoles.
mo12345lemonde with AP and Bloomberg
“It is neither possible nor realistic to think that a game or a portion of the company [Activision Blizzard] is cut, then separated from the rest” said Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, after a hearing With the European Union competition authorities in Brussels, Tuesday, February 21. The American thus sweeps the proposal made, ten days earlier, by the British regulator of competition to separate from the lucrative license Call of Duty in order to remove the reluctance concerning the buyout of Activision Blizzard.
The $ 69 billion acquisition of the powerful American publisher, a record for the video game industry, has come up with obstacles since fall. Competition regulators in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have issued unfavorable first opinions. No definitive target has yet been pronounced.
The various entities fear, in particular, that the takeover of successful licenses Call of Duty, Candy Crush and World of Warcraft by the Xbox manufacturer harms consumers, fearing, for example, that the famous shooting game does not become an exclusivity of the Microsoft consoles. In response, Brad Smith announced Tuesday in Brussels that a contract had been passed with Nintendo so that Call of Duty was again available on the platforms of the Japanese brand, after a hiatus of almost ten years.
Another concern: the Cloud Gaming sector, still shuddering, in which Microsoft is in a position of force thanks to its game service by Game Pass subscription. An agreement with the competitor NVIDIA, owner of the Cloud Gaming GeForce NOW service, was also established in order to dispel the monopoly fears issued by the various competition authorities. 2>
Verdicts expected in the spring
The European regulator opened, in November, an in -depth survey on the buy -in project of the American publisher, judging that the operation could “significantly reduce” competition on this video game market. The European Commission
On February 21, Brussels therefore interviewed Microsoft President, as well as Phil Spencer, Xbox and the historic director of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick. Other interviews have also been conducted with competing companies, such as Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Sony or Nvidia, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
The British regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), had also feared potential “prejudices” for the players of the United Kingdom caused by the acquisition. He had given Microsoft until February 22 to respond to his concerns. His final opinion must be given before the deadline of April 26.
Finally, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) considers that Microsoft’s strategy is likely to lead to “a price increase, a drop in quality and a reduction in innovation”. For her part, she has initiated a trial against Microsoft, scheduled for August, to determine whether the operation, announced in January 2022, may continue or not.