Canada says it's "continuing to monitor" Activision deal as Microsoft claims "all but one" regulator onboard

Canada says it’s “continuing to monitor” Activision deal as Microsoft claims “all but one” regulator onboard

Time Stamp: June 29, 2023 2:51 PM
Source Node: 2737641

While Microsoft argues with the Federal Trade Commission in the US over its proposed $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Canada moved to refute the Xbox maker’s claims that, the FTC excluded, “all but one” regulator around the world is onboard with its deal – noting that Canada is still ‘monitoring the transaction’.

As reported by The Verge, Canada’s Competition Bureau has written to Judge Corley, who is currently presiding over the FTC’s Activision Blizzard case in the US, to correct certain “factual inaccuracies” in Microsoft’s court filings.

Microsoft had told the court that “every single worldwide regulator that has examined the deal other than the FTC has rejected” the theory it would remove Call of Duty from PlayStation should the acquisition go through, and that all regulators agreed “withholding COD from Sony would be unprofitable and is thus not a serious concern.” It also claimed “all but one foreign regulator” (namely the UK’s CMA) had cleared the transaction.

Newscast: This week’s biggest headlines from the FTC vs Microsoft.

Canada’s Competition Bureau disagrees with those three points, however, writing to Judge Corley to stress it had “communicated to Microsoft and Activision’s Canadian counsel that the Bureau has concluded that the proposed merger is likely to result in a substantial prevention and/or lessening of competition with respect to gaming consoles and multigame subscription services (as well as cloud gaming)”. It noted it had also told Microsoft “the Bureau is continuing to monitor the transaction”.

While many regulators around the world have approved Microsoft’s proposed deal – including Europe – outliers remain. Alongside the Canadian Competition Bureau’s latest warning it still has concerns about the acquisition, the US Federal Trade Commission is currently fighting Microsoft in court to secure an injunction to block the deal ahead of its own internal deliberations.

Over in the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority has blocked the acquisition citing concerns around the cloud gaming sector. Microsoft is set to appeal that decision in July.

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