As the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) continues to assess Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, public sentiment appears to be on Microsoft’s side with around 75% of public comments pro-merger.
The CMA invited the public to share their thoughts on the Microsoft Activision Blizzard merger as part of its inquiry into the pending acquisition. The CMA revealed that it received over 2,100 emails during this phase and that “around three quarters were broadly in favor of the Merger and around a quarter were broadly against the Merger.”
Among the responses the CMA received and shared as part of its briefing included views such as “Sony and Nintendo are stronger than Microsoft in console gaming, and the Merger will help Microsoft compete more closely against them;” and “The Merger is a reaction to Sony’s business model for PlayStation, which has historically involved securing exclusive content or early access to popular cross-platform gaming franchises, such as Final Fantasy and Silent Hill.”
Views from those against the Merger included responses such as “Microsoft is already dominant in PC operating systems, and this Merger is an attempt to gain a similar position in gaming,” and “this would be the largest merger in gaming history, paving the way for a potential string of future acquisitions of publishers such as Take Two, EA, Ubisoft, thereby increasing concentration in the market.”
The UK opened up its investigation to public opinion in October after completing the first two phases of its investigation into the Microsoft-Activision merger. The CMA plans to keep gathering evidence and publish provisional findings before a final report which is still months away.
Meanwhile, the deal continues to be under scrutiny as the U.S. FTC announced it plans to sue to block the acquisition, calling the deal harmful to competition in “high-performance gaming consoles and subscriptions.”
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.