Microsoft-ABK Acquisition Under Scrutiny By UK Government Over Call Of Duty Exclusivity

The UK government continues its investigation of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard over concerns of potential antitrust violations should the merger push through. The country’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been running the merger through a fine-tooth comb for since last month with a particular focus on the Call of Duty franchise.

The CMA is currently looking into the possibility of Microsoft making the franchise Xbox and PC-exclusive once the acquisition is complete even though the company already expressly said that Call of Duty games will remain available on PlayStation consoles.

The regulatory body, however, argues that Microsoft has every incentive to bar Sony access from the game once they’ve acquired Activision-Blizzard and no reason not to do so. “Microsoft’s past business practices suggest that it may be willing to make losses in the short term in order to build scale and increase its user base,” the CMA said in its issues statement. “In particular, Microsoft has previously acquired publishers and made their upcoming games exclusive to Xbox, even when those publishers had previously made their content available to all consoles.

“Microsoft could engage in a partial foreclosure strategy, which would allow it to capture the most dedicated CoD gamers—those who would switch to Xbox to benefit from enhanced content, interoperability, or earlier releases —whilst continuing to generate revenues from less dedicated PlayStation CoD gamers who may not have switched to Xbox in response to a total foreclosure strategy,” the body added. “The CMA did not identify any persuasive evidence that Microsoft would be deterred from engaging in total or partial foreclosure strategies by the prospect of reputational damage to Xbox or CoD.”