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Though it may have at first seemed like the UK’s CMA would lean towards blocking Microsoft’s attempted purchase of Activision Blizzard, its tune has changed of late, and Sony’s not happy about that at all.
In its latest response to the UK’s regulatory body, Sony does not mince words in what it deems the CMA’s new addendum on the deal to be.
“Surprising, unprecedented, and irrational,” is how Sony describes the CMA’s current position.
It said that the CMA had things right the first time when it released its provisional findings, and used the recent news around Redfall’s Xbox exclusivity to further fuel its argument.
“The addendum understates the gains to Microsoft from foreclosure by around 70%.” Sony is trying to tell the CMA that it has things wrong by almost 70% now, and goes even further than that later on to say that the CMA isn’t properly taking Game Pass into account.
“The addendum wrongly downplays the ‘significant’ strategic benefits to Microsoft adding Activision content to Game Pass.”
Regarding Redfall, Sony says that Microsoft cancelling a PlayStation version of the game “provides further compelling evidence of Microsoft’s ability and incentives to foreclose rivals.”
Sony goes on to say that this addendum doesn’t address the issues brought up in the provisional findings, such as the CMA’s own statement that adding content from Activision to Game Pass “would have significant strategic value to Microsoft that would represent a gain that goes beyond the sale of consoles and games.”
Furthermore Sony calls the CMA wrong on its conclusions about player behaviour, if Microsoft were to make Sony’s nightmare come true and make Call Of Duty an exclusive title.
“The addendum erroneously speculates that not a single user with less than 10 hours of gameplay or $100 of spend on Call Of Duty would switch.”
Everything is beginning to come down to the wire now regarding this deal, with the UK CMA having until the end of this month to render its decision, and the EU still to deliver its own decision.
While the FTC’s case against Microsoft will take more time to complete, even if the FTC won the case, that wouldn’t grant it the power to block the deal. The UK’s CMA and the EU on the other hand, can block the deal.
It’s still unclear to say which way both parties will ultimately be swayed, but it is clear that whatever the case, it will change the games industry for years to come.
Source – [UK CMA via Eurogamer]
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