the computer giant microsoft is being rigorously investigated by the European Comission due to the recent acquisition of ActivisionBlizzard. It should be remembered that there is a community regulation very clear about business mergers and Europe is skeptical about this case, since it could generate the almost disappearance of competition in markets such as the distribution of consoles and computers, video games or PC operating systems.
The annexation of Activision Blizzard has Microsoft has been carried out by $69 billion, or what is the same, 68,360 million euros. It is positioned in the ranking as one of the highest in the history of the technology sector.
In the preliminary investigation that Europe is carrying out, it is analyzed whether said purchase is fully affecting the competent market, within Microsoft’s desire to finish off rivals such as Tencent either Sony from the world of video games.
The purchase proposal was notified on September 30, but Brussels has 90 business days, that is, until March 23, 2023, to offer a definitive response in this regard.
With this purchase, Would the acquired company be prevented from accessing console and PC video games, especially if they are high-profile and highly successful (“AAA” type)?
The answer is clear; yes, at the stroke of a checkbook. Microsoft might have the ability to strategize with distributors of the competition so that it could not access certain video games, such as “Call Of Duty”.
But this does not exclusively affect video games, because in the video game market PC operating systems It has been detected that it could also use its strategies to prevent them from fighting Windows, since it would merge Activision games with Redmond’s potential in the distribution of games through cloud and streaming.
Consequences for the consumer
By acquiring Microsoft with the shares of Activision Blizzard the price of video games on the market would be affected by rising considerably. In addition, they would lose quality and innovation.
With regard to PC games, the European Union feared that Microsoft’s Windows operating system combined with Activision Blizzard would cause users to only buy computers with Windows as the operating system, which would lead to the total breakdown of the market and free competition.
More about Activision Blizzard
This American video game company is the owner of Activisionowner of well-known video games such as “Guitar Hero” or “Call of Duty” and Blizzard Entertainment, which contains games like “World of Warcraft” or “Diablo”. They also have one of the stars of the sector; “Candy Crush Saga”, via King.
In December 2007, Activision and Blizzard merged for $18.8 billion. This synergy has positioned it as the largest video game distributor in the world, leading the market in all categories of the video game industry.
In 2013 Vivendi was released, but also the Chinese group Tencent Holdings would take over 25% of the stake in the company, that is, 2,300 million dollars.
