By Oyintari Ben
Britain announced it would block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” creator Activision Blizzard due to fears that it would undermine cloud gaming competition.
The nation’s antitrust watchdog declared that Microsoft’s promise to grant top cloud gaming platforms access to Activision’s multi-billion dollar “Call of Duty” series would not adequately allay its concerns.
Microsoft declared in a statement that it would appeal and was wholly committed to this acquisition.
Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, stated that the company “remains fully committed to this acquisition” and will file an appeal. “The CMA’s decision discourages technology innovation and investment in the UK and rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns.”
