Brussels announced, Tuesday, November 8, to open an in-depth investigation into the proposed takeover of the American video game publisher Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, judging that this operation at 69 billion dollars could “significantly reduce” competition in this market.
The European Commission expressed particular concern that Microsoft could « lock access to Activision Blizzard video games [dont le célèbre Call of Duty] for consoles and PC » and that it is tempted to set up “strategies for the eviction of competing distributors of video games for consoles”.
The EU executive, which oversees competition in the EU, believes that such strategies could lead to “higher prices, lower quality and reduced innovation”.
A decision by March 2023
The Commission also fears a reduction in competition in the market for PC operating systems. She believes users might be discouraged from buying PCs that don’t run Windows, Microsoft’s system made more attractive by access to Activision Blizzard games.
The Commission has announced that it will “to carry out a thorough investigation into the effects of the operation, in order to determine whether his initial fears are confirmed”. She has until March 23, 2023 to make a decision. The opening of an in-depth investigation does not prejudge the outcome of the procedure. This takeover has already been monitored by the British competition authorities since September and by the United States since the beginning of the year.
In a video game sector in full consolidation, Microsoft, itself a distributor of games on its Xbox console, announced in January the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, an operation that would propel it to third place worldwide in this industry, behind the Chinese Tencent and Japanese Sony, maker of the PlayStation.