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The CMA prepared a summary of the views received in over 2,100 emails.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority revealed that about three quarters of public comments were in favor of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The organization received over 2,100 emails in two weeks in October and then summarized people's views on the deal. Around 500 emails were excluded because "they contained abusive content (with no other substantive content), or were blank, unintelligible, stated to be from non-UK consumers, or not in English" (via GamesIndustry.biz).
Here are some of the opinions supporting the acquisition:
- Sony and Nintendo are stronger than Microsoft in console gaming, and the Merger will help Microsoft to compete more closely against them;
- the Merger will not harm rival consoles because Microsoft has made public and private commitments to keep Activision content, including Call of Duty, non-exclusive;
- the Merger will push Sony to innovate, such as by improving its subscription service or creating more games;
- Microsoft’s plans to add Call of Duty to Game Pass are pro-competitive and will lower the price of accessing games for consumers;
- the Merger will lead to more funding and higher-quality games in the industry;
- the Merger will allow Microsoft to provide Activision with better guidance and leadership, and to encourage it to invest more in games other than Call of Duty;
- the Merger is pro-competitive in the mobile segment because it will create new options for mobile gamers and allow Microsoft to compete against Google and Apple, which are the two dominant mobile platforms.
Counterarguments follow:
- Microsoft is already dominant in PC operating systems, and this Merger is an attempt to gain a similar position in gaming;
- Microsoft has the resources to create an offering that competes with PlayStation exclusives without acquiring Activision;
- the Merger would lead to consolidation and would set a harmful precedent in the gaming industry of acquiring large publishers rather than encouraging organic growth;
- this would be the largest merger in gaming history, paving the way for a potential string of future acquisitions of publishers such as Take Two, EA, Ubisoft, thereby increasing concentration in the market;
- Microsoft will make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox, just as it did with Bethesda after it acquired ZeniMax Media;
- Microsoft would be able to deteriorate the quality of Call of Duty games on PlayStation post-Merger;
- the Merger will raise barriers to entry for smaller studios and independent developers;
- the Merger will lead to an increase in Microsoft’s bargaining power in relation to game publishers.
The CMA id going to release the final report on the Merger by March 1 of 2023. Read the summary here and don't forget to join our Reddit page and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.