The UK’s Competition Markets Authority (CMA) recently released nine responses to its provisional findings of Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal ahead of its final decision in April. Several of those responses came from third-party developers and companies within the industry who favor the deal. Unsurprisingly, only one was negative.
4J Studios, responsible for the console versions of Minecraft and the only third-party response that wasn’t anonymous, gave their thoughts on their relationship with Microsoft and where the deal will take the industry.
“…During the phase of Microsoft ownership we have never been under any pressure to favour Microsoft owned formats, indeed we were actively encouraged by Microsoft to develop unique content such as the “Mario Mash Up” pack for Nintendo formats.” said 4J Studios.” Microsoft have also brought significant stability and rigour to our contractual and commercial relationships and have been both fair and professional in all our dealings with them.“
” The games industry is now the world’s largest entertainment industry and, as such, it is inevitable that companies like Microsoft need to gain access to more content and talent to justify their continued investment into large scale hardware platforms such
as Xbox. We do not see the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard as anything other than a natural evolution of the industry and it does not give us any cause for concern for our own future opportunities.“
Unsurprisingly, the negative response came from Sony. The company continues its previous claims that the deal would harm consumers and independent developers by” restricting competition”, and “increasing prices.”
Microsoft continues to oppose Sony’s stance, repeating in its own new response it commitment to ensuring open releases of its titles including Call of Duty.
“Microsoft stands ready, as it has since day one, to enter an agreement with Sony to ensure that CoD remains on PlayStation,” said Microsoft. “Microsoft has repeatedly committed to do so both publicly and privately. Unlike Nintendo and NVIDIA, however, Sony has steadfastly refused to reach an agreement with Microsoft, calling instead for the Merger to be prohibited.”
“Sony has more than double the installed base and sales of consoles than Microsoft globally. Sony’s position must be seen for what it is: a self-serving attempt to protect its dominant market position, rather than one founded on genuine concerns regarding its continued access to CoD – which it could have secured months ago.”
Regardless, as Microsoft continues its long battle with Sony, US, UK and EU regulators, third-party companies within the industry have slowly opened up in favor of the deal. This can easily be seen with the 10-year deals struck with Nintendo and NVIDIA, Boosteroid, and just yesterday with Ubitus.