Microsoft's CEO has said the company feels "confident" about the Activision Blizzard acquisition, despite the UK government's concerns.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expressed optimism about the completion of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. "Of course, any acquisition of this size will go through scrutiny, but we feel very, very confident that we’ll come out," Nadella said.
As we reported at the start of the month, the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK shared its concerns about Microsoft's Activision Blizzard buyout. According to the CMA, it is "concerned that if Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard it could harm rivals, including recent and future entrants into gaming, by refusing them access to Activision Blizzard games or providing access on much worse terms."
- Microsoft veteran and former Blizzard president knows "loyal Xbox gamers are mad" about exclusives launching on PS5 and Nintendo Switch but "that isn't going to change anything"
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In the same interview, Nadella said that Microsoft is either the 4th or 5th competitor in the video game industry, with Sony Group Corp - who has also made a number of acquisitions recently - coming out on top at number 1. "So if this is about competition, let us have competition," Nadella said. Just recently Sony argued that the Microsoft Activision deal would have "major negative implications for gamers", adding that it "welcomes the announcement" of the CMA's investigation.
If the news of Microsoft's Activision deal is new to you, here's what you've missed. As was announced back in January 2022, Microsoft has bought Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion. What this means is that Activision, Blizzard, and all of the companies under that umbrella (eg: King, Infinity Ward, Toys for Bob, and more) will be owned by Microsoft and Xbox - that is if the deal does indeed go through. What that means for Xbox exclusivity going forward remains to be seen, but there's been some heated back and forth between PlayStation and Xbox about Call of Duty.
Speaking of Microsoft find out what games we have to look forward to in the near future with our upcoming Xbox Series X games list.
