Update (05/30/2023) – RS
A UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will hear the appeal of the Microsoft against lock made in your agreement with Activision in the week of the day july 24th. Thus, the company will face some legal battles with regulatory bodies in the coming days.
That’s because in addition to what has already been mentioned, the company will also have an evidentiary hearing with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The CMA, in turn, blocked the agreement due to a concern with games available in the cloud service, with the owner of Windows currently controlling 60 to 70% of global services.
The blockade took place, then, because the body believed that adding games to the catalog Overwatch, Call of Duty e World of Warcraft would give Microsoft an alarming advantage in the category. However, the company defends itself and argues that the analysis made has “fundamental errors“.
Overall, the company has five grounds of appeal, one of which is that the CMA did not adequately take into account cloud gaming agreements signed with competitors. In addition, the tech giant claims the body made four mistakes in its findings related to the Xbox maker’s withholding access to Activision’s game content from rival services.
Microsoft was finally pressuring the CMA for a four-day hearing beginning the week of July 17. Judge Marcus Smith then scheduled a six-day trial in total for the weeks of July 24 and 31. Meanwhile, the agency tried to postpone the hearing on the grounds that it needed time to prepare a defense of the decision.
Even if the postponement could still happen, the judge indicated that it would be unlikely. Finally, it is worth remembering that South Korea has already approved the acquisition, as has the European Commission.
Original Article (05/25/2023)
This Wednesday (25), Microsoft filed an appeal against the veto of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA in the original acronym) in the United Kingdom.
In April, the regulator blocked the acquisition of $69 billion considering that it would be harmful to the recent cloud gaming market, harming its competitors.
When the CMA’s decision was released, Microsoft and Activison confirmed that they would appeal. The Xbox owner said the blockade was bad for the UK and that the regulator had taken an “irrational” position, as well as threatening to leave the region without its games.
Now, a Microsoft spokesman has confirmed that the company has filed an appeal against the decision and will resolve the obstacle in the Court of Competition Appeals (CAT, in the original acronym).
A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed the company has formally filed its appeal against the UK antitrust watchdog’s decision to block its $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal. On Terminal.
— Katharine Gemmell (@kathgemm) May 24, 2023
The new decision must be judged within nine months, according to the website. However, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick believes the case will be resolved much sooner than expected by the company’s and Microsoft’s excellent legal team.
Last week, the European Commission and China’s regulatory body approved the acquisition of Activision. If the deal is finalized, Microsoft will own billionaire franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.
In a statement, Microsoft said that with China’s verdict, thirty-seven countries approved the agreement with Activision.
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