Tag Archives: Microsoft

CMA Narrows Scope Of Concerns In Microsoft – Activision Review

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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued updated provision. From the review:

“In February, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published provisional findings setting out that the deal raises competition concerns in relation to both console gaming and cloud gaming services in the UK. The publication of the provisional findings initiated a period of consultation in which the CMA invited responses to those findings from interested parties and continued to gather further information.

“The CMA has received a significant amount of new evidence in response to its original provisional findings. Having considered this new evidence carefully, together with the wide range of information gathered before those provisional findings were issued, the CMA inquiry group has updated its provisional findings and reached the provisional conclusion that, overall, the transaction will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming in the UK.

“The most significant new evidence provided to the CMA relates to Microsoft’s financial incentives to make Activision’s games, including Call of Duty (CoD), exclusive to its own consoles. While the CMA’s original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios, new data (which provides better insight into the actual purchasing behavior of CoD gamers) indicates that the strategy would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario. On this basis, the updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation.

The CMA’s addendum to its provisional findings today relates only to competition in the supply of consoles and not to competition in the supply of cloud gaming services, where the CMA is continuing to carefully consider the responses in relation to the original provisional findings. The CMA’s merger investigation continues, and it remains due to issue its final report by 26 April 2023…

GameSpot reported that a key regulator has said it provisionally no longer believes Microsoft’s proposed deal to buy Activision Blizzard would result in a lessening of competition in the console space, paving the way for the purchase to go through.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said on Friday that it has narrowed the scope of its concerns about the deal. Importantly, though, the deal is not complete, and the CMA still has concerns about Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard in the are of cloud gaming.

A spokesperson for Activision shared a statement with GameSpot about the CMA decision:

“The CMA’s updated provisional findings show an improved understanding of the console gaming market and demonstrate a commitment to supporting players and competition. Sony’s campaign to protect its dominance by blocking our merger can’t overcome the facts, and Microsoft has already presented effective and enforceable remedies to address each the CMA’s remaining concerns. We know this deal will benefit competition, innovation, and consumers in the UK.”

TechCrunch reported that a Microsoft spokesperson sent this statement:

“We appreciate the CMA’s rigorous and thorough evaluation of the evidence and welcomes updated provisional findings. This deal will provide more players with more choice in how they play Call of Duty and their favorite games. We look forward to working with the CMA to resolve any outstanding concerns.”

TechCrunch also reported that Microsoft sent an updated statement – attributed to Brad Smith, it’s vice char and president:

“We appreciate the CMA’s additional detailed and objective analysis. Its update underscores a growing consensus by those with access to the most current data that this deal will create more competition in the console market, not less.”

Personally, I feel like this situation is dragging on and on, and would like to see it resolved. There are plenty of gamers who want to see Microsoft acquire Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft Gives Sony 10 Years To Develop Call of Duty Alternatives

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Microsoft has said it believes 10 years is long enough for Sony to develop rival offerings to the Call of Duty franchise, VideoGamesChronicle reported.

According to VideoGamesChronicle, regulators in the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have expressed concerns that Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard could significantly reduce PlayStation’s ability to compete given that it would see Microsoft gain ownership of the Call of Duty series, which Sony has called “irreplaceable.”

In a bid to gain approval for the deal, Microsoft has told regulators it’s willing to make each new Call of Duty game available on the PlayStation the same day it comes to Xbox for a 10-year period, with full content and feature parity. In a newly published document, Microsoft has told the CMA that it believes a decade is long enough for Sony to create alternatives to Call of Duty.

Gamerant reported that while many gaming studios support Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it’s only natural that the company’s biggest rival wouldn’t be so keen on accepting it. Over the past months, Sony has come up with a whole slew of reasons why the deal should not go through without major changes to, for example, Activision Blizzard’s held IP rights, and Call of Duty is at the center of it all.

According to Gamerant, Microsoft just released a fairly heavily redacted response to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority on the topic of whether Activision Blizzard should keep Call of Duty, in the event that the acquisition gets greenlit by all the pertinent authorities. One of the most interesting comments Microsoft issued via this document is that the company believes Sony would be more than capable of producing a solid alternative to the Call of Duty franchise over the course of the next ten years.

From the document:

“Microsoft’s proposal is that the remedy will apply for a period of 10 years.

“At the Remedies Hearing the CMA asked Microsoft if the 10-year duration is sufficient and whether there would be a “cliff edge” for Sony at the end of this period. The 10-year period is [redacted]. Microsoft considers that a period of 10 years is sufficient for Sony, as a leading publisher and console platform, to develop alternatives to CoD. The 10-year term will extend into the next console generation [redacted]. Moreover, the practical effect of the remedy will go beyond the 10-year period, since games downloaded in the final year of the remedy can continue to be played for the lifetime of that console (and beyond, with backwards compatibility).”

GameRant also reported that this information should be considered with additional context, of course. Specifically, Microsoft offered Sony a 10-year CoD deal, during which time the franchise would remain available on PlayStation consoles. Sony did not accept it, however, and continued issuing statements in an attempt to put the deal in a negative light with authorities.

The aforementioned document has come as a response to the CMA’s latest Remedies Hearing, where the regulator asked for Microsoft’s input on a number of issues concerning the Activision Blizzard deal.

Sony argues that Xbox’s Call of Duty offer would “irreparably harm competition” in the grand scheme of things.

In my opinion, the best thing that can happen is for the regulators to decide in favor of Microsoft. There are already some games made by Blizzard on Xbox, including the Diablo IV Early Access Beta Weekend, and the upcoming Diablo IV Open Beta. Those same betas appear to be available on PlayStation as well.

Phil Spencer Talked About Xbox Mobile Store

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Microsoft’s mobile games store could launch as early as next year, the company’s head of gaming Phil Spencer has said. Thanks to the new Digital Markets Act — legislation that forces Apple and Google to allow users on its platforms to access apps from sources other than the App Store and Google Play Store — Spencer believes this will create a “huge opportunity” for Xbox, GameSpot reported.

“The Digital Markets Act that’s coming – those are the kinds of things we are planning for,” Spencer said in an interview with The Financial Times. “I think it’s a huge opportunity. We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partner across any screen where somebody would want to play. Today, we can’t do that on mobile devices but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up.”

Signed into law back in September 2022 by the European Market, the Digital Markets Act will officially become applicable on May 2, according to GameSpot. Microsoft has made a big push into the mobile scene with its cloud gaming efforts recently, and the company’s plan to acquire Activision Blizzard is fueled primarily by it’s goal increase its foothold in the mobile market.

If the deal is approved, Microsoft will own Candy Crush developer King, as well as Call of Duty Mobile, lucrative properties in a market that is estimated to have 238.7 million “active” users in the US alone.

The Verge reported that Microsoft first hinted at a “next-generation store” early last year, just a month after the company announced its proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition. The Xbox mobile store is designed to rival Apple and Google’s mobile gaming store dominance, and will rely on content from Activision Blizzard like Call of Duty: Mobile and Candy Crush Saga – two hugely popular mobile games published by Activision and King, respectively.

According to the Verge, while Microsoft is building an Xbox mobile store, it will need regulators to take action against Apple and Google to ensure such a store can thrive on Android and iOS devices. Apple doesn’t allow alternative store on its iPhone and iPad devices, and even rival payment methods aren’t available in most countries.

Engadget reported that Microsoft first revealed it was working on an Xbox store for mobile devices in regulatory documents the company filed with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year. At the time, the tech giant didn’t provide a timeline for the plan, noting only its proposed merger with Activision Blizzard would play a critical role.

According to Engadget, Spence was more direct on Monday. “The Digital Markets Act that’s coming – those are the kinds of things that we are planning for,” he said. “I think its a huge opportunity.”

In my opinion, the more places where people can play mobile games – the better! I personally find it rather frustrating when a game I really want to play (on mobile or on desktop) is not available for those who use Apple products.

Microsoft Announces Partnership With Cloud Gaming Provider Boosteroid

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Microsoft posted news in its News Center titled: “Microsoft announces partnership with cloud gaming provider Boosteroid to bring more games to more players around the world”. From the News Center post:

Microsoft Corp. and Boosteroid on Tuesday announced a 10-year agreement to bring Xbox PC games to Boosteroid’s cloud gaming platform. Boosteroid, which has its software development team in Ukraine, recently surpassed 4 million users globally and has become the largest independent cloud gaming provider in the world. The agreement will also enable Activision Blizzard PC titles to be streamed by Boosteroid customers after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard closes.

When combined with other partnerships recently announced by Microsoft, this means popular franchises such as “Call of Duty” will surpass more than 150 million additional players, and make games built by Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard playable on multiple cloud gaming services and subscriptions.

“We believe in the power of games to bring people together. That’s why Xbox is committed to give everyone more ways to play their favorite games, across devices,” said Phil Spencer, CEO of Gaming, Microsoft. “Bringing Xbox PC games to Boosteroid members, including Activision Blizzard titles such as ‘Call of Duty’ once the deal closes, is yet another step in realizing that vision.”

“Boosteroid shares Microsoft’s vision of bringing games to as many people, places and platforms as possible. It has long been our goal to provide gamers with an opportunity to enjoy their favorite titles on and device that is close at hand,” said Ivan Shviachenko, Boosteroid CEO. “Today’s announcement is yet another step in this direction. Also, with our development team based in Ukraine, we appreciate Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to Ukraine, and we will be working together on an initiative supporting our local game development community to invest further in the economic recovery of the country.”

In addition to Ukraine itself, Boosteroid now serves gamers in the United States, United Kingdom, and countries across the European Union. It operates through data center operations located in six U.S. states, including Microsoft’s home state of Washington, as well as in the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, and Serbia.

The gaming community is a vibrant part of Ukraine’s software ecosystem. Microsoft recently added support for the Ukrainian language for the Xbox console dashboard, PC and mobile apps. In spring 2023, Microsoft will launch PC Game Pass in Ukraine.

“This partnership builds on the $430 million in technology and financial assistance we have provided Ukraine since Russia’s unlawful invasion, and it exemplifies the steps we will continue to take to support Ukraine’s 160,000 software developers,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft Vice Chair and President. “It also adds to our recent agreements with Nintendo and NVIDIA, making it even more clear to regulators that our acquisition of Activision Blizzard will make ‘Call of Duty’ available on far more devices than before.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Brad Smith said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the company wants to show through the distribution agreements that its plan to buy Activision will improve users’ access to “Call of Duty.”

Competition authorities in the EU, the U.S., and the U.K., which are examining the acquisition, have said they are concerned it could allow Microsoft to control how consumers access Activision games, potentially reducing competition in the videogame market.

“If the only argument is that Microsoft is going to withhold ‘Call of Duty’ from other platforms, and we’ve now entered into contracts that are going to bring this to many more devices and many more platforms, that is a pretty hard case to make to a court,” Mr. Smith said. He said any decision on the deal would be subject to final judicial review.

Personally, I think Microsoft is making smart choices by providing ‘Call of Duty’ to various other platforms, including Boosteriod, Nintendo, and NIVIDIA. The contracts involved will go into effect if the regulators decide to let Microsoft buy Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft And NVIDIA Announce Expansive New Gaming Deal

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Microsoft posted “Microsoft and NVIDIA announce expansive new gaming deal” on its Microsoft News Center:

On Tuesday, Microsoft and NVIDIA announced the companies have agreed to a 10-year partnership to bring Xbox and PC games to the NVIDIA GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, which has more than 25 million members in over 100 countries.

The agreement will enable gamers to stream Xbox PC titles from GeForce NOW to PCs, macOS, Chromebooks, smartphones and other devices. It will also enable Activision Blizzard PC titles, such as Call of Duty, to be streamed on GeForce NOW after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision closes.

“Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play,” said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spenser. “This partnership will help grow NVIDIA’s catalog of titles to include games like Call of Duty, while giving developers more ways to offer streaming games. We are incredibly excited to offer gamers more ways to play the games they love.”

“Combining the incredibly rich catalog of Xbox first party games with GeForce NOW’s high-performance streaming capabilities will propel cloud gaming into a mainstream offering that appeals to gamers at all levels of interest and experience,” said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president for GeForce at NVIDIA. “Through this partnership, more of the world’s most popular titles will now be available from the cloud with just a click, playable by millions more gamers.”

The partnership delivers increased choice to gamers and resolves NVIDIA’s concerns with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. NVIDIA therefore is offering its full support for regulatory approval the acquisition.

Microsoft and NVIDIA will begin work immediately to integrate Xbox PCgames into GeForce NOW, so that GeForce NOW members can stream PC games they buy in the Windows Store, including third-party partner titles where the publisher has granted streaming rights to NVIDIA. Xbox PC games currently available in third-party stores like Steam or Epic Games Store will also be able to be streamed through GeForce NOW.

Visit the GeForce NOW website for more information on the service and follow along every GFN Thursday for the latest news, including release dates for upcoming Microsoft game titles coming to the GeForce NOW service.

The agreement was announced today at a Microsoft press conference in Brussels, Belgium. Microsoft also star today that it finalized a 10-year agreement to bring the latest version of Call of Duty to the Nintendo platforms following the merger with Activision.

CNBC reported that the announcement comes after Microsoft President Brad Smith met with European Union officials on Tuesday in a bid to convince them that its planned $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be good for competition.

According to CNBC, Microsoft is offering the olive branch to stop the takeover from being blocked and thereby expand its gaming unit, which represents 9% of its total revenue. Microsoft President Brad Smith said if the Activision deal closes, it will bring all Activision Blizzard titles to GeForce Now.

Personally, as much as I’d love to see Microsoft acquire Activision Blizzard, I’m not entirely certain that the company will be able to appease all of the regulators who have examined this merger. Perhaps the offering of ten years of access to Call of Duty to NVIDIA and Nintendo will convince regulators to reconsider their opinion of the acquisition. In the meantime, I looks as though Microsoft is very confident that the acquisition will go through.

UK’s CMA Rejects Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision

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UK’s Competition and Markets Authority posted a press release titled: “Microsoft – Activision deal could harm UK gamers”. The press release starts with: A CMA investigation has provisionally concluded that Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision could result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers.

The provisional findings from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) follow a wide-ranging investigation conducted over the last five months to understand the market and potential impact of the deal. This has included holding site visits and hearings to hear directly from business leaders at Microsoft and Activision, analyzing over 3 million internal documents from the two businesses to understand their views on the market, commissioning an independent survey of UK gamers, and gathering evidence from a range of other gaming console providers, game publishers, and cloud gaming service providers.

Competition in the supply of cloud gaming services

The CMA provisionally found that being able to offer popular games will be important for cloud gaming providers to attract users as the market continues to grow and develop. The evidence available to the CMA currently indicates that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service (or only available on other services under materially worse conditions). Microsoft already accounts for an estimated 60-70% of global cloud gaming services and also has other important strengths in cloud gaming from owning Xbox, the leading PC operating system (Windows) and a global cloud computing infrastructure (Azure and Xbox Cloud Gaming).

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. This could alter the future of gaming, potentially harming UK gamers, particularly those who cannot afford or do not want to buy an expensive gaming console or gaming PC.

Competition in the supply of consoles

The CMA provisionally found that a small number of key games, including Call of Duty (CoD), Activision’s flagship game, play an important role in driving competition between consoles. The evidence available to the CMA, including data on how Microsoft measures the value of customers in the ordinary course of business, currently indicate that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own consoles (or only available on PlayStation under materially worse conditions). The CMA’s provisional findings note that this strategy, of buying gaming studios and making their content exclusive to Microsoft’s platforms, has been used by Microsoft following several previous acquisitions of games studios.

The CMA provisionally found that weakening competition by restricting the access that other platforms have to Activision’s games could substantially reduce the competition between Xbox and PlayStation in the UK, harming UK gamers.

Xbox and PlayStation compete closely with each other at present and access to the most important content like CoD, is an important part of that competition. Reducing this competition between Microsoft and Sony could result in all gamers seeing higher prices, reduced range, lower quality, and worse service in gaming consoles over time.

There is more in this press release, but I think the key points are listed above. The provisional results are clearly not in Microsoft’s favor.

Phil Spencer Says Sony Wants to Grow At Xbox’s Expense

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Public squabbling between two of the biggest console gaming companies has intensified, Kotaku reported. According to Kotaku, on a recent podcast appearance, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer blasted Sony for wanting to grow by “making Xbox smaller.”

The accusation comes after the Federal Trade Commission decided to sue to block Microsoft’s takeover of Activision because of a pattern of making recently acquired games like Starfield exclusive.

VideoGamesChronicle reported that Phil Spencer made the comments during an interview with the Second Request podcast, where the exec claimed that Sony was the “one major opposer to the [Microsoft Activision] deal.”

According to VideoGamesChronicle, Phil Spencer said: “Sony is trying to protect its dominance on the console. The way they grow is by making Xbox smaller,” Spencer said. “[Sony] has a very different view of the industry than we do. They don’t ship their games day and date on PC, they do not put their games into their subscription when they launch their games.”

VideoGamesChronicle also reported that Phil Spencer said “Sony is leading the dialogue around why the deal shouldn’t go through to protect its dominant position on console, so the thing the grab onto is Call of Duty”, Spencer told Second Request. “The largest console maker in the world raising an objection about the one franchise that we’ve said will continue to ship on the platform. It’s a deal that benefits customers through choice and access.”

Forbes reported that Xbox’s head Phil Spencer, normally an industry nice-guy, has had enough with Sony’s relentless protests to regulators over Microsoft’s attempt to purchase Activision Blizzard. These days, the gloves are coming off, and the language he’s using is as sharp as it’s ever been.

According to Forbes, the pushback to Sony’s objections is that they are transparently self-serving, and one argument Microsoft has made is to play up PlayStation’s position as market leader while downplaying Xbox’s position, including their relative lack of first party hits compared to Sony.

Forbes noted that Sony, meanwhile, very much does not want Xbox to get larger by acquiring a company with a market cap dangerously close to the entire size of Sony ($100 billion versus $70 billion). But while there’s an argument to be made about the size of the deal, it’s also pretty apparent that Sony is being obstructionist for its own sake to try and kill something that will benefit their rival and hurt them.

Personally, I don’t think anyone can know, for certain, how the FTC’s lawsuit against Microsoft will turn out. While it does appear that Sony is desperately trying to be the loudest voice against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, that doesn’t mean a court will have the same opinion as Sony does.