Take-Two CEO Has No Concerns Over Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Acquisition - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 November 2022 / 4,102 Views
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick in an interview with CNBC and reported by SeekingAlpha stated he has no concerns over Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. He says most of his competitors feel the same way.
"Well there's one big company that is, but apart from that no," Zelnick said. "Generally speaking I don't think people are particularly concerned because it remains a fragmented business."
Zelnick doesn't believe the competitive landscape in the video game industry will be affected in a meaningful way if the deal is approved and finalized.
"We don't really think the competitive landscape is meaningfully affected in the event that that merger goes through," Zelnick said.
He added, "If you asked me when it was first announced I would have said I thought it was about 90% chance it would be approved. It appears as though it's less than that."
Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) in October voted to approve Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition with no restrictions. Brazil's CADE is the second regulatory body confirmed to have approved the acquisition following Saudi Arabia's competition authority in August.
Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard was announced in January of this year and still needs approval from several regulators around the world. This includes the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK, previously expressed concerns as the acquisition would give Microsoft control over some of the most popular games in the industry like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.
The CMA in its more in-depth Phase 2 investigation has set a deadline of March 1, 2023 to publish its final report and decision on Microsoft's proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition. n December of this year the CMA will hold main party hearings, verify information, and consider provisional findings. It is also the deadline for all parties' responses and submissions before the provisional findings.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I would imagine most of the game companies besides Sony don't want the government involved in the industry
Unless they are hit by whatever and need a bailout than they are all crying for the government to safe them.
Cool, make GTA6.
Didnt we read the exact same statements just weeks ago?
Why should take two care ? This does not affect them.
Also doesn't affect Nintendo who is a competitor towards them.
Most ActBLiz games don't even go to Nintendo, so it is of little consequence to them.
And Nintendo are doing just fine. See the point?
It might if they are in talks to sell, that's being kept quiet right now. If the AB deal goes through for MS, then a deal between TT and whoever shouldn't be a seen as a problem at all, where it might if the AB deal never happened or doesn't close.
Yes pretty much it's obvious that Sony and others players strategies are mostly on hold till they see where the outcome of the Activision/blizzard deal leaves them and even if say in TT's case they haven't got a deal in the pipeline, they like other large 3rd parties would still see the buyout as favourable just from the standpoint that any game becoming exclusive could lead to an opening that they potentially could fill
They’re likely happy about the idea of one less major competitor in the PlayStation ecosystem. Although, it sounds like Microsoft might increase Blizzard Activision presence on Nintendo platforms.
Hum. I thought I saw that a while ago already :) But yah, I do not see why it would be any concern to them. If anything it opens room for them (and many others).
I mean other than Sony... Very few publishers (if not none at all) should be concerned about this lol
Why would they, gives them more opportunity to sell games on Playstation and ups the price companies are buying other video game companies if Take Two ever decides to sell itself.
Why would he be concerned? It wont affect him or take 2 at all. Are the groups impacted concerned? Yes they are and they are voicing their concern.
Doesnt affect Nintendo and they are a competitor
Exactly cuz it dosent affect them. Their games already skip nintendo.
If Nintendo can survive with AnB so can Sony.
It seems its just Sony doing the whining
