Times are tough for Microsoft. The Redmond firm has indeed been going through a period full of uncertainty since the company filed a takeover offer to buy Activision Blizzard. Launched in last january, the transaction is still slow to materialize. The American company is indeed coming up once morest the skepticism of several regulators, while the European Union just added a little extra grain of salt.
The European Union questions the studios regarding their possible fears
Brad Smith (president and vice-CEO of Microsoft) is he still so optimistic regarding the feasibility of this takeover?
The question arises when the site Archyde.com has just published an article in which he announces that the European Union would have sent a 91-page questionnaire to the various developers and publishers in the industry.
This questionnaire would be in the hands of those concerned since the beginning of the month and would aim to find out whether this takeover might call into question past or future relations with Activision Blizzard.
The real meaning behind all of this is actually whether certain games will become exclusive to Microsoft consoles, in which case depriving players of other top-tier gaming mediums. By extension, financial benefits would also be affected. The questionnaire would include the following question:
Please clarify what partial exclusivity strategy(ies) you believe Microsoft may be able to deploy with respect to Activision Blizzard’s console games following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
In addition, this document also looks at Microsoft’s potential ability to prevent its games from running on non-Windows-distributed PCs. Finally, the European Union is also wondering regarding the future of franchising Call of Dutyand this despite recent statements from Microsoft, which said it was ready to sign a 10-year agreement with Sony.
This new episode coming to be added to that of the Swedish pension fund and the recent lawsuit brought by FTC date was probably not foreseen in the scenario envisaged by Microsoft for which the stakes of this takeover are colossal.
The European Union has asked the studios to respond to this survey before Christmas. There is no doubt that the answers will be closely studied and will play a role in the final decision.
