Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in response that 'we continue to expect [the deal] to close in Microsoft’s current fiscal year ending June 2023'.
. As we've been seeing in other jurisdictions, the concern is that the deal may"significantly reduce competition" in the gaming market, and give Microsoft the ability to"foreclose access to Activision Blizzard's console and PC video games" such as Call of Duty.
Which is all to say that the anti-competitive practices klaxon is sounding. The Commission does have an odd digression on the proposed acquisition's impact on the PC market, saying it"may reduce competition on the market for PC operating systems." Essentially it's saying that the combination of Windows, Game Pass, and Activision Blizzard's games could"discourage users to buy non-Windows PCs.
Kotick notes that due to its scale"regulators are trying to better understand the games business" and that Activision Blizzard"will continue to cooperate with the European Commission where, in the countries they represent, we have many employees."
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