As we discussed a few days ago, a member of the European Commission made statements on Twitter that caused quite a bit of controversy in the media. These statements, given the context, seemed biased and a clear indication that the CMA has a preference when it comes to judging the deal between Activision Blizzard and Microsoft. Given this, the AMC itself had to come out to clarify the mess on the networks.
European Commission spokeswoman Adriana Podesta responded by email to news outlet TweakTown when asked what happened. His answer is the one expected, and that is that according to Ricardo Cardoso’s position, he does not seem to have much influence in the regulatory work. Even so, being someone involved with the organization, it is impossible to look away and judge their statements as biased. To this, Podesta replied that he had nothing to do with it and did it in a personal capacity.
As you rightly pointed out, Mr Cardoso works in the Directorate-General for the Internal Market and not in the Directorate-General for Competition.
Mr. Cardoso is not involved in the valuation of this transaction. Also, as his Twitter profile clearly indicates, he tweets in a personal capacity.
Ricardo Cardoso also responds to his comments on the acquisition of Activision
After several days, the community turned on Cardoso to claim his personal bias in an international investigation. For this reason, the manager clarified on Twitter that he is still commenting in a personal capacity and is not involved in the decision. Despite these clarifications, his comments follow a specific line in favor of Sony, like the CMA, they have been defensive in trying to maintain specific interests that do not harm a company, but not the competition in general.
As Phil Spencer has previously commented, Call of Duty won’t stop coming out on PlayStation, with the CMA itself continuing to push for Microsoft not having absolute control over the franchise, although it does. has bought. For this reason, the European Commission has advanced the investigation to phase 2 where it will deliver its verdict in March 2023.
Meanwhile, cases like Cardoso’s continue to emerge, showing that the CMA itself may have vested interests that could favor Sony more than Microsoft.
To clarify: I am not involved in the evaluation of the merger and do not even work in the department in charge of mergers. As is clear from my profile, my comments are personal and not a position of the Commission, whose decision will be made on the basis of the facts and the law.
— Ricardo Cardoso (@RCardosoEU) November 12, 2022
