xbox uk cma

The UK Competition and Markets Authority is still investigating Xbox's Activision Blizzard deal, with the final report currently set to be published by April 26th. While we've heard plenty about Sony's clear objections to the merger, today the CMA posted new findings relating to other gaming competitors.

The authority says that out of a total of six companies spoken to, three felt that if the deal went through, it "would have a negative impact on competition". Two of the other groups expressed no concerns, while the final participant commented that it was too early to judge how things would shake out.

Who exactly these companies are remains secret for now, so we don't know which company each verdict relates to. The CMA does detail some of what each of them talked about though.

One third party labelled Call of Duty a "driver of console purchase decision-making" and felt that creating a competitor to Call of Duty would cost even more money than developing CoD itself. We're not making guesses as to who that company might be... honest!

One third party also pointed at Xbox's Bethesda moves, and how the Starfield maker's games are becoming exclusive to Microsoft platforms. They feel that similar moves with Activision Blizzard would "harm consumers". Again, the report doesn't say whether any of these arguments are made by the same third party.

Other participants in the investigation aren't quite as dramatic, especially relating to exclusive games. "Some" third parties commented that platform exclusives are "a normal feature of competition in console gaming", perhaps hinting that they wouldn't see ActiBlizz exclusives on Xbox as any different to the norm.

For now, we don't know what impact these six companies and their opinions will have on the final verdict, but the UK CMA is clearly being very thorough in its investigation into Xbox's deal. Unless there's any further delay, we should hear the authority's verdict within the next six weeks.

Do you agree with any of the viewpoints presented here? Leave your thoughts down below.

[source assets.publishing.service.gov.uk]