UK investigates Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard

The UK competition watchdog announced Thursday an investigation into the purchase of the US video game publisher Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, concerned about its impact on the UK market.

The merger of these two giants could lead to a “substantial lessening of competition” in the country, the British competition authority (CMA) said in a decision.

Microsoft announced in January the purchase of Activision Blizzard, publisher of the successful games “Call of Duty“, “World of Warcraft” y “Candy Crush“, for a record amount in the industry of 69,000 million dollars.

The operation, which will close next year, will create the third largest player in the video game sector by revenue, behind the Chinese company Tencent and the Japanese Sonymanufacturer of PlayStation.

The CMA is concerned that the deal hurts Microsoft’s rivals, “one of the Big Three, along with Sony and Nintendowhich have dominated the game console market for the last 20 years.

According to the authority, the merged group could deny or reduce access to Activision Blizzard games.

This “could harm consumers by reducing Sony’s ability to compete” and also “other existing or potential competitors,” the CMA said after initial investigations, the findings of which were published in early September.

To questions from AFP this Thursday, Microsoft reiterated its intention to “work with the CMA”, adding that it had committed to Sony, concerned about the availability of “Call of Duty”, that the game would be available the same day in Xbox y PlayStation.