Topline
The makers of Call of Duty are delivering on a promise to expand in Europe with plans to set up shop in Barcelona, after European officials greenlit parent company Activision Blizzard’s planned merger with Microsoft, as executives push for U.S. approval of a $69 billion merger that has worried antitrust regulators for months.
US E-Sports player, Ian Porter, gamertag “Crimsix” of the OpTic Gaming’s team competes during the … [+]
Key Facts
Infinity Ward, the Activision-owned studio which created the first-person shooter game, said Wednesday it would expand its footprint and open a Barcelona office, which will house what Infinity Ward’s Riccard Linde described as a dedicated team to “focus exclusively on creating industry leading, next-gen quality art for the franchise.”
The European Commission approved the Microsoft deal in May, a crucial step toward the merger, which has still not been approved in the United States or the U.K.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are expected to testify Wednesday in a San Francisco federal court and make the case that the groundbreaking deal is good for gamers and will not suppress competition.
The Federal Trade Commission has asked a judge to temporarily stop the transaction, claiming it would allow Microsoft’s Xbox consoles and cloud-gaming platform exclusive access to Activision’s long list of titles; Microsoft has offered to license the Call of Duty game to rivals to ease antitrust concerns.
The Competition and Markets Authority of Britain blocked the merger earlier this year, causing Activision, which has studios in Guildford and Warrington, to “reassess” its growth plans in Europe, Reuters reported.
Key Background
Microsoft early last year announced its plan to spend $68.7 billion in cash to buy Activision Blizzard, the company behind popular video game franchises World of Warcraft, Candy Crush, Overwatch and more. The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the purchase in December and Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority blocked the takeover in April. Antitrust regulators have raised particular concerns over the merger hindering competition in the cloud gaming sector, in which Microsoft is already a major player. The company has appealed the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority’s rejection of the plan, a process that could bleed into next year. The FTC’s lawsuit is the latest in a broader U.S. crackdown on mergers, with the federal government suing Meta, Penguin Random House and JetBlue to halt mergers that they see as anti-competitive.
Chief Critic
American opponents to the proposed merger say Microsoft has already shown it has no problem suppressing competition. In its lawsuit, the FTC cited the company’s 2020 acquisition of ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, as an example. Redfall and soon-to-be-released Starfield, two of Bethesda’s biggest new titles, are slated to be Microsoft exclusives.
Big Number
$7.5 billion. That’s how much net revenue Activision brought in in 2022, down from $8.8 billion in 2021.
Further Reading
Microsoft Considered Buying Bungie For Destiny 2 But There Was One ‘Risk’ (Forbes)
Sony Is Using ‘Starfield’ As Its Argument Against The Microsoft Activision Acquisition (Forbes)
Bombshell Email Reveals Sony Didn’t Believe Microsoft Would Take ‘Call Of Duty’ Exclusive (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/06/28/call-of-duty-studio-opening-spain-office-as-activision-and-microsoft-make-case-for-merger/