The takeover of Activision-Blizzard returns to the front of the stage today since we now know the date on which Microsoft will appeal the decision of the CMA.
Meeting next week
If you haven’t been following the story, the UK CMA chose to block Microsoft’s April 26 takeover of Activision. The main reason for the blockage is the dominant position Microsoft would have in the cloud gaming sector, and the negative impact this could have on its nascent development. The Redmond firm has decided to appeal this decision, and this appeal will be launched on May 30, as evidenced by the
Competition Appeal Tribunal.
Microsoft disputes five grounds of the CMA’s argument, and will therefore have to defend itself on them. These motives are all related to cloud gaming and we should learn a bit more about the situation next week.
Remember that Microsoft has signed agreements with GeForceNOW, Boosteroid, Ubitus or Nware to allow access to its Xbox PC games as well as Activision-Blizzard games if the merger is validated. At the beginning of the week, the first games published by Xbox arrived on the Nvidia platform and others are planned soon.
Now we just have to wait until next week to see how the situation will evolve. If you wish to consult the court document, it is available at this address.
