For a good while now, Microsoft has been duking it out with regulators in hopes of getting its acquisition approved. For an astonishing $69 billion, Microsoft sought to purchase Activision Blizzard. However, while several smaller markets approved this deal, it was rather recent that the UK regulators, known as the CMA, had revealed that they were blocking it. In their eyes, Microsoft would become too much of a dominant force when it comes to cloud gaming if they were to acquire Activision Blizzard.
Initially, when this back and forth was going on, the CMA leaned more towards Call of Duty, which was the big component of this deal. The largest IP of this deal was almost considered to be locked away as an exclusive for Microsoft’s Xbox and PC platforms. However, after some convincing, contracts, and showcasing some number figures, the CMA realized that Microsoft would actually hurt itself by making Call of Duty an exclusive. So, in theory, it looked like Microsoft was going to receive the green light, but that didn’t happen. So instead, the CMA took up the issue with cloud gaming, which is something that Microsoft hopes to appeal to.
Plenty of interesting tidbits of information are still making their way out online from the CMA responses. One of which was from Microsoft’s response to cloud gaming. Thanks to Derek Strickland on Twitter, we’re getting a look into Microsoft’s views on cloud gaming on mobile devices. In general, the folks over at Microsoft are finding that the cloud gaming venture for mobile devices has been rather unsuccessful. It seems that the team at Microsoft couldn’t quite retain players on xCloud so far in their testing.
What Microsoft is viewing right now regarding mobile devices is that they are becoming more powerful. So instead of relying on cloud gaming, more developers can make ports and mobile dedicated versions of games. An example Microsoft gave was CoD Mobile along with Apex Legends Mobile. So it doesn’t look like cloud gaming for mobile devices is not something that will hit right now.
Furthermore, Microsoft points out that players are relying on a stable internet connection to even use cloud gaming. But, of course, these arguments are just the start of Microsoft as they seek to appeal the decision made by the CMA. They even hired a heavy-hitting lawyer that was able to navigate appeals within the UK for companies. That said, it’s purely a waiting game to see if Microsoft succeeds on its second go-around.
