The Drama Microsoft, Activision And Sony, Actually What's Going On?

JAKARTA - Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is not over yet. Especially when Sony objected to Microsoft's acquisition plan.

In early 2022, Microsoft announced its biggest acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, or nearly Rp1,000 trillion, and intends to make a big deal of improvements after its acquisition is completed, as Activision's work environment is in trouble.

The acquisition process is expected to be completed in 2023. However, in the middle of the road, Microsoft is experiencing obstacles due to reports of objections from Sony to the antitrust agency in the UK.

According to Microsoft, Britain's antitrust agency has too much confidence in Sony's objections to this acquisition, especially concerns about the game Call of Duty which has been a flagship game on PlayStation.

According to Sony, Microsoft could take advantage of its power over the game. Because, the plan, after completing this acquisition Microsoft plans to make Blizzard games including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft an exclusive game on Xbox.

According to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the acquisition of Activision Blizzard could damage the gaming industry if Microsoft refuses to grant access to the game to their competitors, and is considered to endanger competition for other game consoles.

"We are concerned Microsoft could use its controls over popular games like Call of Duty and the post-merger World of Warcraft to harm rivals, including new and upcoming competitors in multi-game subscription services and cloud gaming," the CMA said.

Responding to the claim, Microsoft President Brad Smith said Sony would still give Sony access to Call of Duty. Last month, Microsoft even offered Sony 10 years to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.

Sony has emerged as Sony's tougher opponent [acquisition]. Sony's main potential anti-competitive risk is that Microsoft will stop making Call of Duty available on PlayStation. But it will be economically irrational," Smith said, citing VGC.

Meanwhile, the latest news came from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which is trying to block the road to Microsoft's acquisition of game developer Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard for being deemed to be too pressing its competitors.

Microsoft has shown that it can and will hold back content from its game competitors. Today we are trying to stop Microsoft from gaining control over its leading independent game studio and use it to undermine competition in various dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets", said Mikha Vedova, Director of the FTC Competition Bureau on December 9.

The continuation of the processes and obstacles related to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision is still ongoing. VOI will soon update this issue when something new happens.