CMA Claims Microsoft Will Not Benefit from Making Call of Duty Xbox Exclusive

On March 24, the Competition and Markets Authority issued an addendum to its provisional findings regarding Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard released in February.

In the new document, the UK regulator stated that the merger "will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming in the UK." The CMA reached this conclusion after considering additional arguments presented by the parties interested in the transaction since the release of the provisional findings.

"The updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation," the regulator said.

The CMA noted that its updated provisional findings refer only to the console market and that it still has concerns regarding the competition in the cloud gaming services field and continues to study the impact of the deal on it.

The CMA is still conducting its investigation into the Microsoft/Activision merger and plans to release its final report by April 26, 2023.

You can find the CMA's updated provisional findings here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.