Microsoft is back in the game – Kommersant FM
[ad_1]
The UK has given preliminary approval to Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. This is the last hurdle on the way to the biggest deal in the gaming industry. At the end of last year, the corporation announced that it intended to acquire the gaming giant for almost $69 billion. The deal had already been agreed upon in the US and the EU, but the British regulator insisted that the purchase of one of the largest companies in the computer games industry would give Microsoft too much of an advantage in the market and harm competition .
The new deal solves this problem. For example, according to it, the IT giant will not own the rights to Activision Blizzard cloud games, but will sell them to a third party. In this case, Microsoft will not be able to restrict access to the company’s products for its competitors. As a result, the British regulator had to give in, says Leonid Delitsyn, an analyst at the Finam group of companies:
“British regulators resisted for a long time. Microsoft appealed to the London court and insisted that the deal was being blocked unfairly, that the company was meeting halfway, asking regulators to formulate the conditions under which they would allow this purchase. The regulator is forced to respond to this. Everyone understands that this deal strengthens Microsoft’s position in both the cloud and gaming markets. This in itself is not a sin.
The regulator’s task is to prove that this purchase will limit competition. Microsoft does not make any such decisions, but simply buys the world’s largest gaming company for an astronomical sum, taking a position in the gaming market that no one can shake. But the corporation made concessions. She has learned from experience like no one else in the software industry. After all, it was almost forcibly divided into several companies due to the claim of the Netscape browser.”
In fact, Microsoft does not have to directly limit the rights of competitors – after the transaction, the company will have many other benefits, video game market expert Vyacheslav Makarov is sure: “Microsoft will certainly increase the capitalization as a company, as well as its gaming division. But the corporation is not aggressive in terms of quickly introducing any restrictions. It will likely be extremely careful about monopolizing its platforms.
In the future, depending on how Microsoft manages the new business, there will probably be some kind of integration with Microsoft technologies, perhaps co-branding with their other products. But this is all in the long term. Essentially, Microsoft has a lot of cash and not as much ability to invest it effectively. And in this case, she gets a company that will continue to generate funds in the future.”
The British regulator will hold consultations on the deal until October 6. Microsoft expects to receive final approval by mid-month. After that, it will become the third-largest gaming company in the world by revenue after Tencent and Sony. This assessment was shared within the corporation itself.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
[ad_2]
Source link
