According to the latest reports from two analysts, the FTC and the CMA are legally at a loss.
Just yesterday we reported that the CMA had voiced its concerns regarding Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
There were also suggestions to split up the deal and, for example, to remove Call of Duty from the takeover.
But Wedbush analysts Nick McKay and Michael Pachter both assume that won’t happen. Instead, the concerns of the CMA will be dispelled and, in particular, contractually stated that Call of Duty games will be playable on other platforms and (now new) also via cloud gaming via other services.
“We read today’s release as a signal that the UK knows it is legally lost. In our view, the FTC found this out late last year and rushed to file a complaint once morest the merger, hoping to be the first to wrest concessions from Microsoft,” they said.
The two analysts see the actions of the FTC and the CMA as an attempt to obtain “early concessions” from Microsoft, whereby both institutions are said to have recognized that they are legally at a loss.
Nick McKay and Michael Pachter continue to assume that Microsoft will make the concessions for Call of Duty and that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be complete by the end of May.
