Getting Activision-Blizzard according to Microsoft has become one of the biggest soap operas in video game history, largely thanks to the opposition Sony. Although at first it seemed that the company of Japanese origin was successful in advancing its arguments, the Redmond giant was able to read the situation better so that the wind was now blowing in its favor. This has been influenced by events such as the agreements reached between Microsoft and Nintendo and cloud gaming platforms to guarantee the multiplatform status of at least some of Activision-Blizzard’s most prominent titles.

However, despite the fact that the United States and the European Union have opened up and accepted Microsoft’s arguments, the person responsible for Windows manages, at least in appearance, to moderate the position of the British Competition and Markets Authority, CMA in its initials in English. The British antimonopoly regulator, unlike its American and European counterparts, has not yet been convinced by Microsoft’s arguments, which had to justify its position with a new letter.

CMA found that the Windows owner suggested the following regarding the possibility that Call of Duty would stop appearing on Sony consoles: “Microsoft believes that the period 10 years is long enough for Sony as a leading publisher and console platform to develop alternatives to Call of Duty.…the 10-year period will be extended to the next generation of consoles… In addition, the practical effect of the fix will extend beyond the 10-year period, as games downloaded in the last year of the fix can be played for the lifetime of that console (and beyond with backward compatibility).

Microsoft’s stance appears to be an indirect reference to Sony’s purchase of Bungie and Guerrilla Games, the developers behind the Killzone shooter and Horizon adventure games. However, Call of Duty has a rival, Battlefield, which does not overshadow even the well-known Activision saga in terms of viewers. In other words, Sony has a lot of resources to create an alternative to Call of Duty, but the other thing is that it manages to compete on a player level, especially when I see Battlefield not being able to do that.

Between changes of position from the side CMA is the fact that they now believe that Call of Duty exclusivity on Xbox would cause significant losses to Microsoft, or in other words, that it is not profitable for the corporation, mainly because the transfer of PlayStation players is not guaranteed. However, although it reconsidered its position at the console level, The same cannot be said for cloud platforms, a sector in which Microsoft has a share of around 70%.. Here, the CMA continues to believe that the purchase operation could harm competitors, despite the agreements reached. Activision-Blizzard, for its part, believes that CMA has “improved their understanding” situation.

Although Microsoft seems to have the wind in its favor in the United States and the European Union, it must not be forgotten that the CMA was the authority that blocked NVIDIA’s plans to take over ARM. It is important to note that the latest proposal of the Redmond giant is not the opinion of the CMA, which could finally give the green light to the purchase of Activision-Blizzard.