CMA Blocks Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

May 11, 2023 1 min read

The Competitors and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked what would have been the most important deal within the gaming business thus far on April 26, 2023. This choice brings consideration to numerous vital traits, together with:

In dynamic markets, regulators are focusing in on whether or not a deal harms or might hurt future competitors (i.e., innovation based mostly on predications elevating vital uncertainties). The CMA speculated that the deal would “alter the way forward for the fast-growing cloud gaming market” and most well-liked to keep up the established order with the block.
Regulators are focusing increasingly more on non-horizontal relationships and provide chain points, notably if one get together is vertically built-in. Whereas previously, considerations might typically be remedied through behavioral commitments, increasingly more offers with a vertical part are actually being outright prohibited.
Whereas the business expects the European Fee (Fee) to just accept the behavioral treatment (license bundle) provided by Microsoft, this case exhibits as soon as once more that the CMA and the Fee can attain totally different conclusions when reviewing the identical transaction.