Canada doesn’t seem too keen on Microsoft’s Activision merger despite the company claiming that it has received support from worldwide regulators. In a letter from the Canadian Competition Bureau lawyer Jonathan Bitrain, the regulator says that it hasn’t approved the deal and that Microsoft claiming the company had worldwide support is inaccurate.
The letter was compiled after Microsoft confidently claimed in court that the company received worldwide support for its merger. Microsoft declared that “every single worldwide regulator” was on board with the purchase. That wasn’t the case.
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As a result of the company’s statements, the Canadian Competition Bureau addressed the public on the “factual inaccuracies”.
“Contrary to the foregoing quotations from the Memorandum, in a videoconference on May 5, 2023, the Bureau communicated to Microsoft and Activision’s Canadian counsel that the Bureau has concluded that the proposed merger is likely to result in a substantial prevention and/or lessening of competition with respect to gaming consoles and multigame subscription services (as well as cloud gaming) and that the Bureau is continuing to monitor the transaction,”
So Canada isn’t on board with the Microsoft deal after all. Even though Microsoft claimed to have support from all regulators, this isn’t the case. In a statement to IGN, a Microsoft representative says that the company will continue to work with regulators to address any remaining concerns.
“We received notice from the Canada Competition Bureau that it would continue to monitor our acquisition of Activision Blizzard after the formal waiting period preventing the deal to close expired. We continue to work with regulators around the world to address any remaining concerns.”
Mircosoft is still currently appealing the CMA’s decision to block the Activision deal. Even with the world on board (excluding Canada), the company still faces major pushback from the CMA and FTC regarding competition concerns surrounding its cloud gaming business.
Source: IGN
