Microsoft, the owner of Xbox, has rebuffed accusations that its proposal to acquire the company behind Call of Duty may unjustly hurt its competitors, notably Sony, the owner of PlayStation.
Microsoft wants to pay $68.7 billion (£59.2 billion) to acquire Activision Blizzard, which also produces Candy Crush and Overwatch.
According to the UK watchdog investigating the proposal, Microsoft might utilise Activision games to ‘out-compete’ its competitors.
Microsoft stated that it was still hoping for a June 2023 closing date.
It has already received approval from Saudi Arabian and Brazilian competition authorities.
However, the Competition and Markets Authority declared last month that it would request an impartial panel to review the plan.
One of the biggest producers and publishers of video games is Activision Blizzard.
And the CMA warned that acquiring it may give Microsoft the power to monopolise popular games like Call of Duty by making them only available on Xbox consoles, PCs, and Game Pass, its subscription service for online gaming.
The CMA states that ‘Call of Duty is sufficiently important that losing access to it (or losing it on competitive terms) might severely harm Sony’s revenues and user base’ in a detailed summary of its decision to launch an extensive investigation, which was published today.
Additionally, it stated that ‘Microsoft has used this strategy in the past to acquire gaming studios, making Xbox the exclusive platform for any future game releases from those studios.’
Microsoft claims that it is committed to keeping Call of Duty and other current Activision games available on the PlayStation.
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