Things are really starting to heat up in the proceedings following Microsoft's planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard. While various regulatory bodies around the world have already approved of the deal, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is less inclined.
As noted in a 76-page report, the CMA has expressed its concerns about the acquisition and even stated that it could be harmful to consumers, as it would impair Sony's ability to compete with Microsoft and Xbox.
It's said in the report that the CMA believes that this merger would allow Microsoft to make Activision Blizzard's products exclusive to Xbox, and that it would, "degrade its rivals' access to ABK content, such as by delaying releases or imposing licensing price increases."
The main concern revolves around making Call of Duty an exclusive series, as the report adds that "Call of Duty is sufficiently important that losing access to it (or losing access on competitive terms) could significantly impact Sony's revenues and user base." It should be said that this won't be an immediate impact, but rather when the next era of consoles arrive: "This impact is likely to be felt especially at the launch of the next generation of consoles, where gamers make fresh decisions about which console to buy."
Microsoft has since released a follow up statement (thanks, Tom Warren), to suggest otherwise in regard to these concerns.
"Nor is there any basis for the idea that acquiring Call of Duty could 'tip' subscription services in Xbox's favour. Sony has chosen to block Game Pass from PlayStation, so it is not available on PlayStation. As all games that are available on Game Pass are also available to purchase, PlayStation gamers will continue to have the ability to buy Call of Duty on PlayStation. And doing so will still cost less than the cost of switching by buying a new Xbox console."
<social>https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1580239474126036992</social>
Needless to say, it looks like this acquisition process could be going on for quite a while longer, especially if other regulatory bodies also express concerns like the CMA.