Microsoft continues to offer solutions to competition regulatory bodies, so that they accept the purchase of Activision Blizzard and, from what we have seen in the last few hours, it seems that they are abandoning that protectionism towards Sony that they had assumed. The most outstanding movement has been that of the FTC, which has decided to require Sony all the necessary documentation to make the decision on the acceptance or rejection of the purchase; This despite the continuous refusals of Sony, which has opted for a most bizarre excuse for not providing the documentation that Microsoft had requested.
On the other hand, Sony’s accusations aside, Microsoft is determined to convince competition regulators to accept the process. And proof of this has been that the company has offered hire a third-party to be in charge of ensuring that its own Microsoft guarantee parity agreements regarding Activision Blizzard games, especially Call of Duty. With this movement, Microsoft would like to “reassure” the market, making sure that a third party outside and without interest in the matter is the one that controls its movements.
Call of Duty stays with Activision Blizzard, says the European Commission
Call of Duty stays at Activision Blizzard, assumes the European Commission:
And it seems that this recent proposal would be paying off, because the European Commission has accepted that Call of Duty does not separate from Activision Blizzard. A decision that the CMA already proposed and was the most burdensome of all; both because of the repercussions it could have on Activision Blizzard, and because of the possibility of exceeding its powers and ending up in court. However, this decision has been abandoned by the competition regulator in Europe.
«The European Commission does not expect the separation of Call of Duty (from Activision Blizzard). This is the original new. If the CMA accepts Microsoft’s proposal to pay a third-party to enforce its agreements, the agreement will be accepted. The FTC will then be able to decide whether to go to trial or accept it,” says analyst Florian Mueller.
But this would not be the only rapprochement between Microsoft, Activision Blizzard and the European Union. As has been echoed Mueller himself, the European Commission will not ask for data on the sales of Activision Blizzard assets, but will focus on addressing licensing agreements that Microsoft has entered into and other behavioral solutions.