CMA siger at EU tager fejl i forhold til godkendelse af Microsofts Activision Blizzard-køb

Selvom at både engelske CMA og amerikanske FTC lige nu forsøger at blokere Microsofts køb af Activision Blizzard, så valgte EU i går at godkende handlen, og selvom at de kom frem til nogle af de samme konklusioner, så anser de det ikke som værende skadeligt for markedet som helhed, eller Sonys konkurrenceevne.

Men den beslutning mener CMA, naturligvis, er en fejl, og de har følt sig nødsaget til at respondere til EU (via VGC). Her siger CMA CEO Sarah Cardell følgende:

"The UK, US and European competition authorities are unanimous that this merger would harm competition in cloud gaming. The CMA concluded that cloud gaming needs to continue as a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice in this rapidly evolving sector. Microsoft's proposals, accepted by the European Commission today, would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next ten years. They would replace a free, open and competitive market with one subject to ongoing regulation of the games Microsoft sells, the platforms to which it sells them, and the conditions of sale. This is one of the reasons the CMA's independent panel group rejected Microsoft's proposals and prevented this deal. While we recognise and respect that the European Commission is entitled to take a different view, the CMA stands by its decision."

EU's konkurrencekommission med Magrethe Vestager i spidsen har ikke svaret igen, og vi forventer ikke at der bliver en offentlig korrespondance imellem de to retslige instanser.

Microsoft står til at anke CMA's beslutning, og har hyret et hold af advokater, der tidligere har haft succes blandt andet i en sag med Intel. Om hvorvidt handlen går igennem i sidste ende er endnu usikkert.