CMA Publishes Issues Statement That Invites The Public To "Share Their Views" On Microsoft's Acti-Blizz Acquisition

While the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) continues to scrutinize Microsoft's proposed Activision-Blizzard acquisition until March 1st, the UK regulator has invited the public to give their opinion on whether the deal should happen. Literally. Anyone can pull up the UK government website and submit their views and evidence on the matter.

However, the CMA does not promise everyone's opinions will get acknowledged. Mainly, of course, due to the imminent volume of submissions over such a heated topic that shook the gaming and non-gaming world. As for what the public should respond to specifically about the merger, the CMA published its Issues Statement that lists a "theories of harm" section focused on potential concerns the acquisition could bring. That involves "the impact of the merger on multi-game subscriptions that rival Game Pass" and "Activision games being made Xbox exclusives."

The CMA will analyze the evidence from the public and reveal its findings in January. After, it will invite the public once again to share their views as it gets closer to the end of its second phase of investigations in March. "If we find no competition concerns, the deal can go ahead as planned," the CMA explained. "If we do find competition concerns, we decide how these should be remedied. For example, this can include selling part of the business or prohibiting the merger altogether."

The CMA's new public approach follows backroom discussions from Sony and Microsoft. Sony argued Microsoft could add "extra content" to Call of Duty games if the deal went through, with rumors arising later that Sony would cancel its showcase to avoid making Microsoft's comments on its exclusivity strategy stronger.