Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision hit a major roadblock yesterday when it was confirmed that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked the deal from going through.
In case you missed it, the CMA explained yesterday that it made its decision based on “concerns the deal would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market, leading to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come”, with Microsoft already accounting for 60-70% of cloud gaming services worldwide. It added: "The deal would reinforce Microsoft’s advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft."
Take a look at some spicy gameplay footage from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II below.
If you’ve been following the regulation of the acquisition for some time now, I’m sure you’ll be aware that Microsoft potentially owning the Call of Duty IP was one of rival company Sony’s biggest concerns. However, Xbox boss Phil Spencer claimed that the company had no plans to make the franchise Xbox exclusive, and said that Microsoft had entered a 10-year commitment to bring the series to Nintendo consoles should the buyout go ahead. However, as GamesRadar+ reports, the CMA doesn’t actually think this would be possible.
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“CoD is currently available on two gaming consoles – Xbox and PlayStation. We found that these consoles compete closely with each other in terms of content, target audience, and console technology,” the CMA wrote in its final report. “We found that Nintendo’s consoles compete less closely with either of Xbox or PlayStation, generally offering consoles with different technical specifications, and with its most popular titles tending to be more family- and child-friendly.
“Nintendo does not currently offer CoD, and we have seen no evidence to suggest that its consoles would be technically capable of running a version of CoD that is similar to those in Xbox and PlayStation in terms of quality of gameplay and content.”
Ouch. Just because the CMA has blocked the acquisition doesn’t mean that it can’t still happen, by the way. Microsoft president Brad Smith confirmed that the company is appealing the decision, and analysts have made it clear that “the deal isn't dead”. With that in mind, we could still see Microsoft release Call of Duty on the Switch or whatever future consoles Nintendo has planned, regardless of what the CMA thinks.
Featured Image Credit: Activision, Alvaro Reyes via UnsplashTopics: Call Of Duty, Microsoft, Activision, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch