Microsoft has just become Macrosoft.
After many months of legal wrangling, bizarre streaming deals with EE and console fanboys at each other’s throats, the CMA has finally approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King in the UK – with the Xbox parent company overcoming the “final regulatory hurdle”.
The CMA blocked the deal in April, citing concerns over Microsoft having a monopoly over cloud streaming, a move Microsoft chief Brad Smith said was “bad for Britain”.
Under the finalised deal, Microsoft will be handing over the cloud streaming reins to Ubisoft in territories outside of the European Economic Area, which the UK is no longer part of due to Brexit.
The handover, as CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell put it, is to ensure that “Microsoft can’t have a stranglehold over this important and rapidly developing market”.
Regulators suspect that video game streaming will see meteoric growth over the coming years and become many people’s first port of call for gaming, much in the same way that the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus have taken a large chunk out of terrestrial television market.
Ubisoft only has the distribution rights for cloud streaming, however; the large IPs such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo and Candy Crush belong to Microsoft outright, and will no doubt be a huge boost to their revenue streams, with many likely subscribing to Xbox Game Pass to play the latest Call of Duty without paying £70 for the pleasure.
Given how big Call of Duty is on PlayStation, and the fact Xbox Game Pass isn’t available on Sony’s console, Microsoft stands to make a lot of money by continuing to sell CoD at full price to the 40 million PS5 owners.
As Game Pass’s roster continues to grow, Team Green will hope to see their next-gen console become the system of choice as Microsft steals mind-share from the competition, especially when titles such as Starfield and the upcoming Elder Scrolls 6 remain exclusive to their platform.
In the here and now, though, the CMA hopes that splitting up the deal will “preserve competitive prices”, as Microsoft won’t be the only large player in the market.
The CMA’s decision paves the way for the deal to be finalised around the world. The move was already approved by the regulatory body in the European Union, and despite concertations from the FDA in the USA, the courts sided with Microsoft.
We should see, then, in short order how exactly the deal will affect gamers. Most will be delighted that huge games such as Diablo 4 and Call of Duty will be available to play through a service they already pay for, but many are worried about the implications it has for physical media down the line as we move to an all-digital world.
Xbox Series S and PS5 Digital Edition owners can’t buy pre-owned games from physical shops as they lack a disc drive, and the jury is out on whether or not the next generation of consoles will still have them, too.
Time will only tell, however, and for now, we’re excited to play the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Open Beta to distract us from any existentialism in this fast-changing world.
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