Microsoft Defends Activision Blizzard Merger

The gaming world is buzzing with the news that Microsoft wants to buy Activision Blizzard, the creator of your favourite games like Call of Duty and Candy Crush, for a whopping $68.7 billion (£56.8 billion). But, like any big deal, there are some folks who are sceptical, and that’s why there was a hearing at the EU competitions.

Microsoft defended its proposal, saying that the deal would bring more choices to more gamers. They even pledged to make all current Activision Blizzard games available on Nintendo, Sony, and Steam platforms for at least the next 10 years. But, rival Sony, the owner of PlayStation, was also at the hearing and expressed concerns that the merger would give Microsoft too much control over some of the world’s most popular games.

At the hearing, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, rejected concerns that Call of Duty might become restricted to Xbox users if the merger goes ahead. “That’s not a great way to turn a $69 billion asset into something that will become more valuable over time,” he said. Burn!

But, it’s not just Microsoft and Sony at the hearing. Chip designers Nvidia and Google were also present. Nvidia and Microsoft even announced a partnership that would make Xbox PC games and Activision Blizzard titles available via Nvidia’s cloud-streaming platform. Talk about a power move.

Microsoft has to convince regulators around the world that the deal would not harm its competitors. Some countries, including Chile, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, have already approved the deal. However, the UK’s competition watchdog is not impressed and has suggested that Call of Duty could be sold off separately. Yikes!

At the end of the day, we just want to play our favourite games, but the bigwigs have to sort things out first. Microsoft has already acquired other game companies such as Minecraft maker Mojang and Fallout creator Bethesda, and they have announced that Bethesda’s new game Starfield will start off as an Xbox exclusive. We can only wait and see what will happen next in the gaming world.