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LurkerJ on 26 April 2023
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MS response

"We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal," Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said. "The CMA's decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the UK."

The CMA said the deal would solidify Microsoft's advantage in the market by by giving it control over blockbuster games Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. The watchdog found that without the merger Activision would be able to start providing games on cloud platforms in the future.

"The CMA's report contradicts the ambitions of the UK to become an attractive country to build technology businesses," an Activision spokesperson said. "We will work aggressively with Microsoft to reverse this on appeal."

  • Update 1: Appeal process in the UK could push the deal into 2024
  • Update 2: Industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls noted on Twitter that the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal aims to deal with most cases within nine months. If Microsoft wins, the case will be returned to the CMA.
Last edited by LurkerJ - on 26 April 2023