Bloomberg: Sony Tells UK to Force Microsoft Call of Duty Sale or Veto $69 Billion Activision Deal

[Unchained]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...orce-microsoft-call-of-duty-sale-or-veto-deal

Sony Group Corp. urged the UK’s antitrust watchdog to block Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard Inc. deal or force it to sell the blockbuster Call of Duty, as no other solution exists that’ll prevent harm to consumers in the cloud gaming and console markets.

The UK’s Competition and Market’s Authority said in provisional findings last month that the deal could result in a substantial lessening in competition for UK gamers. It suggested a number of remedies, including the sale of the best-selling Call of Duty game or blocking the deal altogether. The agency did say it would consider other remedies that would safeguard rivals’ access to the blockbuster shooter game.

Microsoft has since said that the deal cannot be be completed without Call of Duty. It has struck long-term licensing deals with Nintendo Co. and Nvidia Corp. in an effort to appease global regulators.

However, Sony said that Microsoft’s past conduct shows that behavioral remedies are not suitable in this case, according to responses to the potential remedies published on Wednesday.


Competition authorities in the US and UK have soured on so-called behavioral remedies in recent years. In a recent speech, CMA Chief Executive Officer Sarah Cardell said behavioral remedies are disfavored “particularly in a sector where technology or business models are changing quickly.”

“Behavioral remedies are unsuited to this case because of the lever they would give Microsoft over PlayStation and the difficulty the CMA would encounter in specifying, monitoring, policing, and enforcing any behavioral commitment,” the company’s lawyers said in a reply to the CMA’s proposals.

 

[Entropi]

Seems fair.

 

[Deleted member 417]

Bloomberg. Where's the Forbes article?

OT: Microsoft can't be trusted.

 

[Swift_Star]

MS has only itself to blame for past behaviors. It's not reliable. It can't be trusted.
Sony is absolutely right.

 

[Sircaw]

MS has only itself to blame for past behaviors. It's not reliable. It can't be trusted.
Sony is absolutely right.

This is basically them, in gaming form.

 

[DonFerrari]

Please UK, protect our market dominance!

 

[Deleted member 417]

Can we get a 'dumb' reaction?

 

[KiryuRealty]

Please UK, protect our market dominance!

Did you eat paint chips as a kid?

 

[Swift_Star]

Please UK, protect our market dominance!

"Please, MS, become a good publisher, make good games, create and develop good studios and stop trying to take games from other platforms" is more accurate.

 

[Swift_Star]

The main reason I want this deal blocked is to stop this consolidation BS. If it gets blocked, then you're not having neither Sony nor Nintendo or anyone, for that matter, making this kind of power move anymore. Not Amazon, Google or Apple.
The best outcome for everyone is this getting blocked, period.

 

[DonFerrari]

Did you eat paint chips as a kid?

 

[John Elden Ring]

If the deal gets approved, im betting Sony is buying Square

 

[Swift_Star]

If the deal gets approved, im betting Sony is buying Square

I don't doubt it either and I don't want it to happen, but you just wait how this will make people cry and outrage.

 

[CloudStrife]

If the deal gets approved, im betting Sony is buying Square

Maybe? But it wont be as a response to this.

 

[Papacheeks]

If the deal gets approved, im betting Sony is buying Square

Either they buy them or they buy tons of stock. I believe the changing of CEO's is a sign of company change. And a lot of this is to align with how successful Sony has been with software penetrating larger markets.

If FF16 does as well as we assume it will, I think FF14 will get another big push, and the next FF MMO will probably already be in full swing for replacement. And I heard that they have a working mobile version of FF MMO not announced yet. Dont know if its a modified FF14 or something totally new.

Also forsee Sony having larger input on some of these remakes Square is doing. They dont want another Chrono cross issue.

I also hope FF15 is not getting another re-release. LET IT DIE TABATA!!!

 

[Bryank75]

Quite inflammatory, how they phrased the headline.... 'tells'?

I don't think Sony told any regulator what to do, they simply outlined their position and how it would hurt them.

Bloomberg should really change that headline.

 

[Gediminas]

Sony tells regulators, okey, next are governments i assume

 

[On Demand]

Did lulu write the headline?

 

[KiryuRealty]

Quite inflammatory, how they phrased the headline.... 'tells'?

I don't think Sony told any regulator what to do, they simply outlined their position and how it would hurt them.

Bloomberg should really change that headline.

Bloomberg lost a LOT of credibility when they hired Schreier, but they have always had a tendency toward yellow headlines.

 

[Swift_Star]

Quite inflammatory, how they phrased the headline.... 'tells'?

I don't think Sony told any regulator what to do, they simply outlined their position and how it would hurt them.

Bloomberg should really change that headline.

What else do you expect from them at this point? They’re on MS pocket.