CMA: WHY WON'T YOU LET ME PROTECT YOU?!

One report from MLex includes a few interesting extra quotes from Margrethe Vestager (EU competition chief):

- A 10-year commitment to license the developer's games catalog "significantly improves the conditions for the emergence of cloud game streaming."

- Vestager said that"remedies will make [Activision's games] available for millions of consumers" in Europe, regardless of the operating system they use. "We think this is pro-competitive ... We think the remedies will kick-start this market."

- "We end up with a different conclusion based on how we see the nascent cloud streaming market start," she said.

- She said that her competition department officials conducted two market tests and received positive responses from cloud gaming services in the US and the EU, as well as European game developers and EU consumer groups.

- She pushed back at the idea that the "behavioural" remedy accepted might be hard to monitor or enforce. A commitment to license all-comers for free was "very simple" and "not hard to monitor," she argued. Non-compliance would be obvious to anyone seeking a license.

- She said that the difference between behavioural and structural remedies was a "gray zone" in the digital sector. "If you make a free license for 10 years, is that then a partial divestiture? Have you sold the game?"

- Vestager also countered claims by the CMA that accepting the remedy was akin to regulating or tampering with a new and fast-growing market. She claimed it was "future proof," since the games will be available to cloud-streaming services regardless of their computer operating system or business model. It's not "prescribing anything."


Yes, both the CMA and EC agreed on the cloud gaming concerns but I feel like the level of divergence and disagreement is bigger this time.

Source: Idas

Hard to disagree on this one. I felt exactly the same on Gears 5. The open world section was so small that it really felt a bit unnecessary and added to the game just for the sake of adding it. They should either have invested more time into it and made it a lot bigger than it was or not added it at all. Anyway, it felt like it was added the last moment or they were too scared to change the game formula too much to not piss off old Gears fans.

I think the main problem is that Gears series has it’s own dedicated fan base which likes the game as it is. Coalition is just afraid to change the game too much to not divide the fan base IMO. And that’s a big problem for both Halo and Gears franchises evolving these days.

CMA decision looks even more weird considering that Microsoft prepared all the needed agreements with all cloud providers that they will license ActiBlizz games by themselves even before CMA’s decision. I don’t think EU’s decision here changes anything except that they will follow closely that Microsoft fulfills these agreements if the deal goes through.

So a few complaints on CMA's decision blown away.

• We can't be bothered to monitor concessions! = EU is monitoring them for you.
• What about Linux? Other OS? = Games will be available to cloud-streaming services regardless of their OS or business model.
• Unfair terms? = Literally offering them the license for free.
• What about new entrants? = Seems like Microsoft has to offer it to anyone who seeks a license.
• But we're protecting the market! = According to EC, two market tests received positive responses from cloud gaming services in EU/USA.

Having said all that, I think the odds have gone up, from 0% to 5%

CMA has made clear with those tweets, it doesn't matter what is offered, they don't care, they want the deal blocked. CMA isn't acting illegally so CAT either has to find them acting irrational or breaking procedure. Even if (a big if) it's sent back to the CMA, based on those tweets, they'll find another reason to block it. I don't know how many appeal chances a company gets against CMA but even if Microsoft can appeal to CAT again, I doubt they'll have a desire to fight the decision for 3-4 years, Lol.

Still think there's a strong chance that the deal falls apart on the renegotiation with Activision on the closure date, I suspect Activision will ask for a much higher merger fee which Microsoft won't be willing to commit, I doubt they'll ask for a 45% premium now, likely even higher considering how stable the company now is and with Diablo around the corner.

Also this unintentional burn on the CMA who claimed that monitoring it was too difficult.

Seriously f*** these rat bastards. Glad to see them getting ratioed in the comments. Straight up lying in their response, saying that Microsoft's remedies with the EC allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions of the market. That is purely false, EC is setting the terms and conditions of the market, not Microsoft, microsoft is required to give ABK licenses to any cloud platform for free, and anyone who buys a copy of an ABK game on any platform can then stream that game on any cloud service who is willing to host it. Microsoft has no power here whatsoever.

China should be next and IIRC it was reported last year that they were waiting to see what EC does, alongside the fact that Tencent supports the deal, I see China approving it next.

Australia may be a wildcard since they've very clearly been delaying constantly to wait for someone else, I think there's a decent chance they'll side with UK and New Zealand is waiting on Australia.

I see the rest of the world approving the deal.

If the merger does actually get extended then Microsoft will beat FTC in court and it'll literally be only UK acting like a global regulator whilst the rest of the world approves of the deal, from regulators to those in the market, Lol.

Wow, did not expect that :) You are usually very nice and soft-spoken in your responses :)
Glad to see some blood pumping there! 

One EU official suggested that the CMA had "overstated" Microsoft's share of the cloud game streaming market, suggesting that the 60 to 70 per cent estimate stated by the UK regulator in its final ruling included many subscribers to Microsoft's Game Pass subscription service who do not actually use the cloud gaming features of the product.

"For us, it's not a separate market, it's a segment of the overall [video games] market," the official said.

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Claiming irrationality on labelling Cloud as its own market just became more likely.

European Union vs UK Round 52!

We already know that the CMA is bad at maths.