From The Verge: Microsoft’s $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard has been blocked by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). After months of analyzing 3 million Microsoft and Activision documents and more than 2,100 emails from the public, the CMA has concluded that the deal could “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.”
Microsoft says it will appeal the decision, but it’s a blow to Microsoft’s hopes of acquiring Activision Blizzard and will likely prevent the company closing its giant deal if an appeal is unsuccessful.
“Microsoft has a strong position in cloud gaming services and 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,” says the CMA.
The CMA estimates that Microsoft controls around 60 to 70 percent of global cloud gaming services and that adding control over Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft would give Microsoft a significant advantage in the cloud gaming market.
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