Microsoft CEO Says Activision Deal Will Bring More Competitiveness to the Gaming Industry - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 07 February 2023 / 2,910 Views
Microsoft Gaming CEO in an interview with CNBC was asked about Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard and how certain he is now about the odds of it passing following headwinds in the UK.
"I think it will bring more competitiveness to the gaming industry," said Nadella. "I look at this and say at the end of the day the regulators around the world have to make the choices. And I would only submit to them that if they really seriously think about competition they have to sort of really reflect on is this going to be helpful to bring more competition? Think about this, there are people who make more money in gaming who don't even build games today. Maybe we should look at that.
"Then even if you look at the console market. We should probably look at Microsoft's share of the console market in Japan. As perhaps a question that somebody should ask. And say 'Oh, wow, I wonder why that is. That's small.' And maybe they should actually start competing more.
"So I hope the regulators take an approach that is going to truly be beneficial to gamers, it is going to be beneficial to all publishers."
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick earlier today stated that if the UK's Competition and Market Authority (CMA) were to block Microsoft's acquisition of the company it would hurt the ambition of the UK to become the Silicon Valley of Europe.
"You look at the UK and you think about post-Brexit UK, it’s probably the first country where you’re seeing a recession, and like the real severe consequences of recession," said Kotick.
"If you’re the UK and you have an incredibly educated workforce, you have a lot of technical talent, places like Cambridge where the best AI and machine learning is, I would think you’re going to embrace a transaction like this where you’re going to see job creation and opportunity.
"And it really isn’t at all about whether it’s Sony or Microsoft’s platform, it’s really about the future of technology. And they’ve said now, for the last year, I think Rishi Sunak has said they’d like to be the Silicon Valley of Europe or of the continent, and if deals like this can’t get through, they’re not going to be Silicon Valley, they’ll be Death Valley."
Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been approved in Brazil, Chile, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia. There has been pushback against the deal with the regulators in the US, UK, and European Union.
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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Mass consolidation is what kills competition. Does MS think people are that stupid?…
Considering the support they get over it they must be right.
This was a very small part of the interview, most of the interview was about trying to chip into Google and eventually topple them with its ai powered bing search. Video games are a cute side project to them.
I don’t know MS? Why don’t you just take the 23 studios you already own and which is more than the competition and actually start releasing quality games at a decent rate!!! Why not invest that 70billion in your existing studios!!!!
I'm sorry, but Microsoft has one on the waffle.
Don't forget MS needs ABK because the sales in Japan are to low.
That will raise the relevance of Microsoft in Japan from very very little to very little I guess. At least COD sells decently in Japan, probably also on pc.
It is an improvement.
Who knows? Microsoft might sell 1.5 million systems in Japan this time! That would be their equivalent of the Switch selling 122.55 million units.
Odd new narrative today. "Remember, western regulators, SONY and Nintendo are Japanese, don't forget we are western like you, ok?".
SONY is becoming as irrelevant as Xbox in Japan. You fail in Japan because of your incompetence, not protectionism.
MS thinks when it comes to gaming Sony is way too Japanese and that's a big problem?
PS starts leaning western and it loses some support in Japan.
PS headquarters itself in California, and loses even more support in Japan.
Maybe XB should wake up and offer a fellow American gaming company a way better all around AB deal for the good of western gaming.
Sony has a looooong way to go before they are meaningless in Japan. They still receive plenty of game support and their home consoles still make enough noise that people want them, even after a massive decline (which isn't a strict fault of theirs, but the market). Nintendo recognized this and that is one of the reasons the Switch exists.
That funny from Kotick. This deal is all about MS getting closer to Sony & Nintendo, & eventually wanting to surpass them. Only later will we see how dormant Xbox/MS want's to be in the gaming space, but currently even after this deal is approved, it's not even close.
This is about who's the most competitive in strongest part of the entertainment industry, and that is gaming.
Obviously
I'm all on MS owning activision, and bringing back COD to Nintendo systems, with Sony on charge this will never happen, so go go Microsoft!!
Because Sony pay for the marketing, don't you remember when MS paid for marketing they put clauses demanding ABK put CoD on Nintendo?
