Microsoft runs full-page ads in UK newspapers to promote its plans to merge with Activision Blizzard.
As spotted by The Verge reporter Tom Warren, the advert pictured below appeared in both the Financial Times and the Daily Mail this week.
It includes Microsoft’s claim that Xbox can offer Call of Duty to more than 150 million additional players should the $69 billion deal go through.
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This claim relates to Microsoft’s commitment to bringing the blockbuster shooter series to the nearly 125 million Nintendo Switch install base and GeForce Now’s 25 million users.
Last month, Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had tentatively found that Microsoft’s Activision deal could reduce competition and result in “higher prices, less choice or less innovation” for gamers.
It suggested that the easiest way to ensure there isn’t a significant reduction in competition is to block the deal entirely or go through a partial divestment of Activision Blizzard, which will see parts of the business such as Call of Duty sold and would be removed from the equation.
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However, the CMA said it would also consider behavioral remedial measures, such as: B. Microsoft’s commitment to make Call of Duty available on other platforms after the merger, although it sees these as less favorable than structural ones that rarely need to be monitored and enforced once implemented.
The CMA has raised concerns that Microsoft could use a number of tactics to stifle competition if the deal is approved. These include holding back games or content from rival Sony and degrading the quality of Activision titles on PlayStation.
In a response to those findings released on Wednesday, Sony argued that behavioral mitigations would not be sufficient to address the regulator’s concerns, as there are “numerous ways Microsoft could deny or restrict access.” [which] would be extremely difficult to monitor and too police.”
One of the ways Microsoft could sidestep its obligations would be by releasing buggy Call of Duty games for PlayStation, it claimed.
Microsoft recently said it had offered Sony a legally enforceable 10-year deal to make every new Call of Duty game available on PlayStation the same day it releases on Xbox – with full content and feature parity.
In its response to the CMA’s findings, Microsoft confirmed that it has also offered Sony the option to include future Call of Duty games in its PlayStation Plus subscription service on day one, although its competitor claimed the offer may be subject to unsustainable licensing costs be doing what this would force to raise prices.
Microsoft also tried to dismiss suggestions that it might increase Xbox Game Pass prices after adding popular Activision Blizzard content to its subscription services after the merger.
The company has also said it is willing to pay a third-party agency to monitor compliance with any agreed remedial actions.
