According to the notice of possible solutions published by the agency, it can require: that Microsoft sell the business associated with Call of Duty; to sell the Activision segment of Activision Blizzard; that sells both Activision and Blizzard (it would keep King, developer of Candy Crush); or terminate the deal.
These options do not satisfy Microsoft, which has sought to have its proposal to continue releasing Call of Duty games on both PlayStation and Nintendo consoles for another 10 years to be taken into account; however, Sony has been quite reluctant and has not accepted such an initiative.
“We are committed to delivering effective and easy-to-enforce solutions that address CMA concerns,” said Rima Alaily, Microsoft deputy general counsel, while Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent a message to his employees, saying that they trust that the purchase agreement will be accepted.
“In this case, our combined companies will bring more competition to a field already filled with world-class competitors, including Sony, Tencent, NetEase, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. We believe this merger provides us with additional resources to compete with such giants,” he commented.
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have until February 22 to respond, while the CMA will issue a final decision on April 26. Although it should be remembered that in addition to this body, the purchase agreement also faces scrutiny from the United States Federal Trade Commission.
