Regulator retreats in battle for Call of Duty

The mega-merger between Microsoft and Call Of Duty maker Activision Blizzard looks set to be scrapped after regulators eased their concerns about the merger.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said after receiving “significant new evidence” that it no longer believes there is a risk of a “substantial reduction in competition” in the UK console game market.

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A key point of contention for regulators in the UK, as well as Europe and the US, was that if the merger was successful, Microsoft would only allow Call of Duty to be played on its Xbox consoles, blocking access to competitors such as Sony. Game console.

But Martin Coleman, chairman of the independent panel investigating the CMA merger, explained the regulator’s reversal, saying that the cost of blocking access to Call of Duty on PlayStation for Microsoft “would outweigh any benefits from taking such action.”

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A Microsoft spokesperson said: “We appreciate the rigorous and thorough evaluation of the CMA evidence.”