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Antonina Batova: We have no evidence as to that Activision is going to start providing games to cloud platforms in the near future. On the contrary, the cloud gaming community knows that Activision has quite a harsh standing on cloud gaming, which only confirms that most likely they are not going to be available on cloud gaming services in the near future. In theory it is, of course, possible that their strategy has changed, but we have no information about that and would not speculate.
Also, the CMA's ruling is likely to do the contrary to what they are claiming - slowing the innovation and development of cloud gaming by cutting out the Activision's audience from cloud gaming services. The situation where this content is widely available in the cloud has clear benefits to the market, the competition and most importantly, to the end customers who would then be able to play high-end Activision games on almost any device regardless of its processing power or OS.
The CMA claimed the positive impact of the aforementioned deals with cloud gaming platforms like Boosteroid was highly uncertain, partly due to undisclosed clauses and provisions in those contracts cited on pages 282 and 283 of the CMA's final report. When asked about this oddly specific detail, Batova couldn't expand on the topic but said the CMA could continue to overwatch Microsoft's commitments.
Antonina Batova: There is no room for extensive comments based on this. We are also not aware of what exactly CMA refers to in these 2 paragraphs but our opinion is that any potential uncertainty "in respect of the future development" may be avoided if the CMA agrees to overwatch the commitments of Microsoft over time directly or through appointed authority.
This will definitely be in the interests of cloud gaming providers. The market and, obviously, the end users benefit greatly from major franchises by Xbox Game Studios and Activision games being widely available in the cloud.
That's why major cloud gaming providers, including Boosteroid, want the deal to go through.
Indeed, as part of the so-called Microsoft Cloud Remedy, the Windows and Xbox company had offered to appoint a monitoring trustee to ensure compliance with the behavioural remedies, in addition to a fast-track mechanism for disputes. However, the CMA found that it would have placed 'significant demands' on its resources and elected to simply block the whole deal.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 05 May 2023
