Microsoft announced Tuesday that it has begun acquisitions of Activision Blizzard in a massive $68.7 billion deal. Microsoft expects the acquisition to be completed by mid-2023, but it must first be approved by anti-monopoly regulators.
Competition laws are laws aimed at maintaining competition in the market by applying the anti-monopoly laws that companies must comply with. For such large purchases, it is looked at whether the deal threatens competition, in which case some conditions must be changed for the deal to pass. This means that Microsoft will need to clearly explain its plans for Activision Blizzard games to obtain this approval.
Analysts say Call of Duty in particular is crucial in this regard. “The biggest problem would be that Call of Duty is Microsoft-specific,” said David Cole, founder of analytics firm DFC. Right now, I don’t think it’s real. If they disable competition in this way, it will be very difficult for them to pass regulatory approval.”
Microsoft has already said it will continue to make some Activision Blizzard games multi-platform after the acquisition, even explaining that Phil Spencer has “no intention of attracting communities of players from that platform.”
Multiplayer games like Call of Duty benefit from being on as many platforms as possible, especially if they support cross-platforming. That alone is a reason why Call of Duty isn’t Xbox Exclusive.
