| Ryuu96 said: I wonder if Microsoft is struggling to find a buyer or do the terms for the deal. This is what it sounds like right now based on rumours. Option 1 - Microsoft sells the Activision licenses to another company (rumoured to be EE, owned by BT who are a massive telecommunications company). EE company receives the licenses but can set the terms themselves, a worse deal for consumers and cloud companies in the UK. I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia and others say this deal is worse than Microsoft's original deal but accept it because it applies to UK only. Option 2 - Microsoft sells the licenses to another company, but they have to abide by the European Commission rules that Microsoft applied to themselves, those rules are that the licenses are free, now I question what the incentive is for another company to accept this deal, how would they make money? Microsoft would have to give them some extra financial incentives. All this messing around for a deal which may end up being far worse than the EU deal but at least it isn't Microsoft setting the prices! |
I don't see any of the options you listed as been good for competition or for the consumers and MS would be better off just closing their Cloud Gaming operations in the UK. Because MS selling the Activision rights to Kevin Bacon isn't going to be good for anyone it will either kill off the nascent market they are worried about or it will allow the likes of Amazon to dominate the space without any big competition.
..but when the CMA accept a deal that is worse for competition and customers than the deal they initially blocked can it be undone later?
