The British competition authorities have to approve the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is also asking the public when making its decision. A majority voted in favor of the deal via e-mail.
At the beginning of the year, the Redmond company announced that it wanted to take over Activision Blizzard. Of course, that’s not easy, because antitrust authorities have to give their approval to the transaction. The biggest hurdles here are the US and European market watchdogs, and in-depth investigations and lawsuits are already underway there.
The deal is also under scrutiny in Great Britain and the responsible Competition and Markets Authority is not only questioning those involved and competitors, but also the public. The CMA received and reviewed more than 2,000 emails and now says that around 75 percent were in favor of a Microsoft acquisition as MSPowerUser reported: “Of the 2,100 emails that we checked, about three quarters were in favor the merger and about a quarter against it.”
Various aspects of the deal were discussed in the emails. Among other things, it was said that Sony and Nintendo were stronger than Microsoft when it came to console games and that the takeover would help the Redmond company to compete better with the Japanese companies. The public believes Microsoft’s promises that Call of Duty will remain non-exclusive. In addition, Sony is also known for exclusive games.
The Xbox Game Pass was also discussed, which the e-mail senders see as a cheap way to get games. Activision Blizzard games in Game Pass will also force Sony to upgrade its own gaming subscription.
Of course, there are also various arguments against the deal, the complete list can be viewed in a PDF. Whether such a (non-representative) public survey makes sense is of course another question and it is also open to whether and to what extent the CMA will take the arguments to heart.
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