United Kingdom: Closed Phase 1 of CMA Microsoft/Activision merger
Description
Closed Phase 1 of CMA Microsoft/Activision merger
On 1 September 2022, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) closed Phase 1 of its investigation into the Microsoft Corporation/Activision Blizzard, Inc merger, which started on 6 July 2022. The CMA decided that the merger may be expected to result in a lessening of competition in the United Kingdom. Unless the parties offer acceptable proposals to address these competition concerns in five working days, the CMA will start Phase 2 of the investigation by appointing an independent panel to examine the deal in more depth. Specifically, the CMA is concerned that after the merger, Microsoft could use popular games such as "Call of Duty" and "World of Warcraft" to disadvantage rivals in cloud gaming and multi-game subscription services markets.
Original source