The Microsoft-Activision merger continues to provide outrageous defenses. This time, a self-described CEO of an impartial recreation developer believes that the deal ought to be authorized by the UK’s CMA so as to stop Tencent and Chinese language publishers typically from gaining additional affect within the gaming trade.
CEO says Chinese language publishers have an “unfair benefit”
Labeled anonymously by the UK regulator as “Market Participant C,” the indie developer is anxious that Tencent is “already an investor in Activision” in its response to the CMA’s provisional findings on the merger. The CEO, who has labored with Sony, Microsoft, and Activision, writes:
If Microsoft is prevented from buying Activision, would the UK shoppers be higher served in the event that they had been acquired by Tencent as a substitute?
The assertion continues, warning that Chinese language publishers like Tencent have an “unfair benefit” as a result of Western firms are closed off to the Chinese language market whereas they’ve free entry to Western markets. Subsequently, it believes that the Microsoft-Activision deal would profit UK shoppers to combat towards “this fast-growing competitors.”
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The truth is, the CEO believes that attempting to cease Microsoft and Activision from consolidating is foolhardy. It’s because different publishers will proceed to be pressured to merge “as a result of shoppers favor to buy video games immediately from on-line platforms giving them entry to a bigger catalogue.”
As reported in October 2022, Tencent has been aggressively pursuing acquisitions and controlling stakes in varied recreation firms. It already owns a number of notables builders like Riot Video games, Funcom, and Turtle Rock, and has invested in Ubisoft and FromSoftware.