It seems far away, but it was only yesterday that the European Commission decided to give the green light, subject to conditions, to the takeover of Activision by Microsoft. After that, the CMA responded quickly and quickly on Twitter, stubbornly reaffirming its decision, even assuring that the big three regulators, the FTC, the EC and them, had come to the same conclusions, but that they had made the decision not to not let the acquisition continue. .
But of course, just a day before, the British Prime Minister himself, Rishi Sunak, assured in a post on LinkedIn that they would do everything possible to promote the economy in the United Kingdom, which included a possible audit of the CMA to prevent it. to be an obstacle to economic growth. This fact began today, with the English parliament itself questioning the head of the CMA on the reason for his refusal on the question of Activision and in this thread
UK Parliament forces CMA to evade questions
In the thread we see how Sarah Cardell herself responds, leaving jewelry like “when there’s an emerging market you should block it” or not being able to explain whether they enjoyed the UK’s international image after having made this decision, since for example Activision’s words that “the UK was closed for business”, stuck in the minds of many. When asked if he was in contact with the FTC, as Bobby Kotick himself s aid, Cardell claims he can’t explain what happens in these interagency interactions for confidentiality reasons.
But that’s not all, because Tom Warren shared on Twitter an excerpt from an article by FinancialTimesin which a member of the European Commission considers that the figures used by the CMA to calculate Microsoft’s Cloud Gaming market share It is miscalculated, since it is not 60-70% as they mention, alleging that they included users of Game Pass Ultimate in this figure, a service that does include cloud gaming, but does not specifically indicate that these users use it, since it is an optional feature thereof. In fact, their preliminary ruling (CMA) on Call of Duty and console competition was favorable because they miscalculated Microsoft’s earnings by projecting 5-year revenue as only 1 year.
EU thinks CMA overestimated Microsoft’s 60-70% market share in cloud gaming, says @FT. The CMA previously miscalculated a financial model around Call of Duty https://t.co/Uumj7F4lEx pic.twitter.com/MdUpCCY16H
—Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 16, 2023
The absurdity begins to weigh too much on an inexplicable decision of the CMA whereas precisely this one claims to be in conformity with the opinion of the European Commission. Today, no doubt, has not been a good day for an organization with so much power and control that it could affect its own country economically and reputationally for reasons that are not yet entirely rational.