The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has been investigating Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, has issued a major update on the case. Government agencies have been hearing from Microsoft and Sony on whether this will reduce competition in the gaming industry.
Basically, each side presented their arguments in support of their position. This includes statements, data/evidence, and rebuttals to points made by the other party.
The arguments, published on the Gov.UK website earlier today, are quite lengthy.Sony’s is 22 pages [PDF]while Microsoft’s is a giant 111-page [PDF].
If you’ve been following Sony and Microsoft’s public statements so far, you have a good idea of what to expect. The difference, of course, is that the documents contain more lengthy versions and — in many cases — shed light on how the two companies see themselves and their competitors.
Microsoft, for example, puts a lot of emphasis on how much Sony exclusives have over Microsoft, and how many of them there are. It’s also nice to point out the many other PlayStation console exclusivity fees that Sony pays third-party publishers, either temporarily or permanently.
Sony, on the other hand, continues to stress the importance of Call of Duty and how owning it will allow Microsoft to raise prices on hardware and services. Sony also insisted that Microsoft’s habit of using Nintendo as an example of how the platform could thrive without Call of Duty misses the point.
We are now going through these documents to see what interesting revelations can be gleaned from them.
