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UK: Microsoft's Activision acquisition may harm market
The United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Wednesday that its independent probe concluded that Microsoft Corporation's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. could lead to "higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation" for British gamers.
"The CMA provisionally found that buying one of the world’s most important game publishers would reinforce this strong position and substantially reduce the competition that Microsoft would otherwise face in the cloud gaming market in the UK," the CMA's statement read. "The evidence ... currently indicates that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Activision's games exclusive to its own consoles."
In December 2022, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in an effort to block its acquisition of Activision. Microsoft responded by challenging the case.