The UK’s Competition and Markets have been one of the largest proponents against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, along with Sony and more recently the FTC. Their combined outcry continues to sour public opinion of the deal, but recent pushback from Microsoft and other organizations has called many of their concerns into question. Earlier today, the CMA published statement positive on the deal from a redacted source named “Market Participant A”. Despite the statement not being from the CMA themselves, the fact that the information is more than likely to be taken to account by them suggests that the regulator could possibly change their stance.
Posted on Twitter by Tom Warren, senior editor at The Verge, the statement maintained a mostly positive stance on Microsoft’s acquisition. The third party actively called for the CMA in its investigations to look in to the favorable aspects of the deal, how beneficial it could be for the future video game industry landscape and consumers alike.
“The purpose of our submission is not to evaluate each theory of harm as presented by the CMA,” said the unknown party. “but to engage in a discussion around the unique opportunity that this transaction presents the CMA to set the standard for regulators and companies globally when approaching M&A transactions in the video and cloud gaming markets. We believe the CMA should use its power to help shape this dynamic industry as it evolves and provide a mandate for the Digital Markets Unit (“DMU”) to be at the forefront of regulation as we move to an increasingly digitised world.”
Speculation as to who the unknown party in the statement could be continues. The Gamer hypothesized that Epic Games could be the redacted party, due to the explicit reference to Fortnite in the statement. Regardless of who it could be, it gives more credence to the optimism of Microsoft that the deal would be beneficial to the industry. Unfortunately, that sentiment will unlikely change Sony’s mindset, which continues to be dead set on the deal’s failure despite Microsoft’s attempts at reaching out.