The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. As part of Phase 2 of their investigation, they asked the British public what they thought of the potential merger. From 2,100 emails, approximately 75% of them supported Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard, with only 25% against it.
The response summary document lists some broad arguments made by those in support or opposition to the acquisition, and it notes that “no clear view was expressed for or against the merger by a small number of respondents.” The views listed in support of the merger include Microsoft’s commitment to keep their games on other platforms, the prevalence of exclusive games on rival systems, as well as the merger encouraging competition.
The list of reasons supporting the acquisition is certainly sizeable, but there’s still a considerable amount of reasons that British citizens disagreed with the merger. Some examples are the precedent the deal could set for gaming monopolies, Microsoft’s existing dominance in other industries and their ability to create new rival games rather than just buy them.
Whilst the CMA asked for these responses, the document does not reflect any official views of the body. The majority of arguments listed seem to be very similar to online ‘console war’ arguments both in support of and against Microsoft. There’s a lot of validity to some of these arguments too, so exactly how the CMA will side with the ultimate decision remains to be seen, but we’ll be sure to report on it.
What do you think of the UK’s response to the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard acquisition so far? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming news.
