The UK CMA blocks Microsoft's $68.7B Activision acquisition, citing concerns about competition and innovation in the UK gaming market; Microsoft plans to appeal
The CMA has prevented Microsoft's proposed purchase of Activision over concerns the deal would alter the future …
GOV.UK
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Discussion
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Gameranx
Ryan Parreno
on x
CMA Has “Prevented” Microsoft-Activison Deal Due To Cloud Gaming Concerns
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Pure Xbox
Fraser Gilbert
on x
Activision Blizzard Criticises UK Verdict As Microsoft Takeover Gets Declined
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@bradsmi
Brad Smith
on x
We remain fully committed to our acquisition with @ATVI_AB and will appeal today's determination by the CMA. Here's our statement. https://twitter.com/...
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@lulumeservey
Lulu Cheng Meservey
on x
The CMA's report today is a major setback for the UK's ambitions to be a tech hub, and we will work with Microsoft to reverse it on appeal. This report is also a disservice to UK citizens, who face increasingly dire economic prospects, and we will need to reassess our growth... h…
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@cmagovuk
@cmagovuk
on x
We've prevented @Microsoft from purchasing @Activision over concerns the deal would damage competition in the #CloudGaming market, leading to less innovation and choice for UK #gamers. ☁️ https://www.gov.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
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@cmagovuk
@cmagovuk
on x
#Microsoft and #Activision merger: A thread on our concerns for the future of #CloudGaming ⬇️ https://twitter.com/...
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@papscun
Dan Papscun
on x
CMA blocks Microsoft-Activision. “Allowing Microsoft to take such a strong position in the cloud gaming market just as it begins to grow rapidly would risk undermining the innovation that is crucial to the development of these opportunities.” https://www.gov.uk/...
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@deeketweak
Derek Strickland
on x
“The UK is clearly closed for business,” an Activision-Blizzard rep said in response CMA's decision to block the Microsoft-Activision merger.😬 https://twitter.com/...
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@jamestitcomb
James Titcomb
on x
Fair to say Activision Blizzard is not a fan of the CMA decision https://twitter.com/...
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@tbraithwaite
Tom Braithwaite
on x
Good luck staying poor, Activision tells UK after it blocks $75bn Microsoft deal. Amazing statement. https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
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@benedictevans
Benedict Evans
on x
‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs man who spent the last five years going to politicians and lobbying for Leopards To Eat People. https://twitter.com/...
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@fosspatents
Florian Mueller
on x
4. Over the past 10 years or more, Microsoft has been more cooperative with regulators than any Big Tech company in history. The CMA does not care. The CMA must be driven by motives that have nothing to do with regulatory reasonableness. Now Microsoft has to fight back. 🧵10/10
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@cmagovuk
@cmagovuk
on x
📄 The evidence available to the CMA showed that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make #Activision's games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service, making it harder for other platforms to compete.
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@ryan_browne_
Ryan Browne
on x
Just in case anyone is wondering about what the CMA's position is re: Microsoft/Activision - it's all about cloud gaming: - Microsoft has 60-70% market share - cloud gaming growing fast, trebled in 2022 - Microsoft has incentive to withhold CoD, WoW, etc from other platforms
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@bdsams
Brad Sams
on x
The CMA is hung-up on Microsoft's cloud gaming direction...they should make all their kids use a logitech g-cloud for a week and see how that works out for them
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@wyp100
Wesley Yin-Poole
on x
“Accepting Microsoft's remedy would inevitably require some degree of regulatory oversight by the CMA” feels to me like what this decision is all about, really https://twitter.com/...
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@skizzleaxe
Usman
on x
UK CMA also says that, while it's a benefit to consumers that Activision games would end up on Game Pass, Microsoft would have all the incentives to increase Game Pass prices, ultimately harming consumers https://twitter.com/...
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@deeketweak
Derek Strickland
on x
The CMA says it has looked through 3 million documents from Microsoft and Activision, and has also consulted with regulators at the European Commission (EC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). https://twitter.com/...
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@videotechx
Ben
on x
This decision is apparently being appealed by Microsoft and I fully expect CMA to take the right steps to ultimately approve the merger. Sony needs more competition, especially when they're actively locking down third party content on Xbox including petty exclusive beta access
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@eric_seufert
Eric Seufert
on x
Curious that potential control of the cloud gaming market is used as justification for blocking the $MSFT <> $ATVI deal given the high-profile failures in cloud gaming: Stadia and OnLive. Especially since OnLive's patents were acquired by...Sony. https://twitter.com/...
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@cecianasta
Cecilia D'Anastasio
on x
Seeing lots of surprise that cloud gaming, considered niche and nascent, is critical to the CMA's decision to block the Activision/Microsoft deal. We've been covering this for a while. TLDR cloud gaming is MUCH bigger than just game subscription services https://www.bloomberg.com…
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@econliberties
@econliberties
on x
🚨BIG: The UK CMA just blocked Microsoft's $69B acquisition of Activision — the largest big tech merger of the decade. @matthewstoller says, “It's a historic moment, as big tech got stopped today, and gamers and game developers won.” Our statement.👇 https://www.economicliberties.u…
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@s8mb
@s8mb
on x
The big underlying flaw in the CMA's worldview is that it sees markets as inherently static, with innovation and incentives to innovate being mostly afterthoughts. That's not a big deal when working on the cement market, but it's a big problem when it comes to tech.
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@peterovo5
PeterOvo
on x
The CMA has said that if Microsoft make Activision Blizzard games exclusive to it's cloud platform it will make it difficult for others to compete If the CMA is concerned about exclusives, what are they doing about PlayStation, Nintendo & Xbox exclusives? Just ban exclusives http…
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@s8mb
@s8mb
on x
Gaming is inherently innovative. New titles & IPs come along every year as underlying technology improves. Making CoD exclusive would create a short-term problem for Microsoft's competitors that they would have to create alternative titles to overcome, to the benefit of gamers.
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@s8mb
@s8mb
on x
The effect the CMA has on the wider British economy is becoming difficult to ignore. Decisions like this and blocking the FB/Giphy deal will undermine everything else we could try to do to make the UK a centre for tech startups and investment. https://www.gov.uk/...
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@fosspatents
Florian Mueller
on x
There may be activist shareholders pushing #ActivisionBlizzard to take the $3B instead of negotiating an extension. But given that the CMA decision meets the “irrationality” standard to be vacated by the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, it makes sense for ABK to extend. 🧵2/X
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@tomwarren
Tom Warren
on x
I said back in September that CoD concerns were just noise and that the larger regulator concerns would be Microsoft's leverage of Windows and Azure for game distribution in the future. And here's the CMA today on Microsoft's recent cloud gaming deals: https://twitter.com/... htt…
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@tomhfh
Tom Harwood
on x
“Despite all its rhetoric - the UK is closed for business.” Scathing on the CMA's blocking of Microsoft making a legitimate acquisition. https://twitter.com/...
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@xcloudtimdog
@xcloudtimdog
on x
Well they are still fighting but gonna be a way more drawn out process. :surprises galore from yesterday for today. In something like this it's at the point of comedy and nothing to get mad @. FTC probably biggest winner here . Lol https://twitter.com/...
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@nicholashirst_
Nicholas Hirst
on x
MSFT has no plans to abandon Activision deal: Says it will appeal CMA veto. As for Activision, it is lobbing threats at London: “We will reassess our growth plans for the UK.” https://twitter.com/...
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@matthewstoller
Matt Stoller
on x
Stop the hyperventilating. Microsoft has 60-70% market share in the relevant market, as well as significant adjacent assets. It's the largest big tech acquisition of the decade. It's a very reasonable decision. https://twitter.com/...
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@stephentotilo
Stephen Totilo
on x
What's stunning about this decision is that the console competition issue had loomed largest, and the CMA had backed off that in March. Microsoft, meanwhile, announced a slew of cloud deals for Activision's, to address concerns Today, the UK said those deals were “too limited” ht…
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@nickstatt
Nick Statt
on x
I will say it's very peculiar the CMA latched onto the cloud angle, an extremely nascent and tiny market by all considerations, when it figured out the Call of Duty one was pretty weak. But were there no concessions Xbox could have made over cloud? https://twitter.com/...
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@ethangach
@ethangach
on x
Absolutely wild development in the Microsoft Activision merger: “CMA has prevented Microsoft's proposed purchase of Activision over concerns the deal would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market” Microsoft and Activision will appeal: https://www.gov.uk/... https…
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@fosspatents
Florian Mueller
on x
I agree that this here is bad for the UK economy. I've said in another tweet that the UK is basically positioning itself as an antitrust “rogue state” by which I mean “rogue jurisdiction”: out of control and way out of the mainstream. Great that Activision will fight back too! ht…
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@zach_cer
Zach Meyers
on x
Your friendly reminder that while the EU talks tough, after Facebook/Giphy and Microsoft/Activision it's the UK which is developing a track record on banning big tech mergers. In both cases, the CMA relied on views about future innovation and how a nascent market will develop. /1…
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@benthompson
Ben Thompson
on x
Probably shouldn't have used a (reversed) PlayStation controller for the graphic lol https://twitter.com/...
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@fosspatents
Florian Mueller
on x
What does #Microsoft's announcement of an appeal mean in practical terms? 1. With less than 3 months left until the July 18 closing date under the original merger agreement, an extension will have to be negotiated in all likelihood. 🧵1/X https://twitter.com/...
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@videotechx
Ben
on x
I'm very disappointed with this outcome. I truly believe Microsoft will be able to make Activision the best it can be with Game Pass, better leadership within Microsoft and most importantly removing Bobby from the company. https://twitter.com/...
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@andyplaytonic
Andy Robinson
on x
Microsoft says it will appeal. “We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal. The CMA's decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the United Kingdom.”
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@pgeuder
@pgeuder
on x
Oh! https://twitter.com/...
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@cecianasta
Cecilia D'Anastasio
on x
Activision Blizzard will “work aggressively with Microsoft to reverse this on appeal” - Activision Blizzard comms Joseph Christinat
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@gossithedog
Kevin Beaumont
on x
I did say Microsoft shouldn't have picked a fight with the CMA... those early public statements won't age well. https://www.gov.uk/...
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@bdsams
Brad Sams
on x
Wow https://twitter.com/...
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@shortsightedcap
@shortsightedcap
on x
So Clippy will *not* be a hidden boss in Diablo 4? https://www.gov.uk/...
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@jjvincent
James Vincent
on x
enjoying the CMA's jaunty use of emoji here. “we just killed 😈 a $68.7 billion deal 😳🤯 Here's why —> 🤓” https://twitter.com/...
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@cmagovuk
@cmagovuk
on x
👀 Look out for our follow-up thread for more details on why we're preventing the merger from taking place.