Aple's Blog

  Due to "fundamental errors" in evaluating Microsoft's cloud gaming services, UK’s decision to block Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" creator Activision Blizzard is being appealed by Microsoft.   UK’s anti-trust watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rejected the deal in April, claiming it could harm competition in the budding cloud gaming market. This sparked a raging argument.   Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it had appealed the decision to UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), and on Friday, a summary of its arguments was made public. The summary declared that the CMA's assessment that the deal would significantly reduce competition in the UK.'s cloud gaming market was incorrect.   Microsoft will make this claim in front of the Competition Appeal Tribunal, claiming that the CMA "made fundamental errors in its calculation and assessment of market share data for cloud gaming services...

Microsoft announced Friday that China has unconditionally approved its plan to acquire video game company 'Activision Blizzard', despite antitrust opposition in the United States and the United Kingdom. The fact that Activision Blizzard earlier this year stopped selling many of its games in mainland China due to a disagreement with its local publishing partner, NetEase, complicates China's approval. The two largest economies, China and the European Union have approved Microsoft's proposed $69 billion acquisition of the California-based game publisher responsible for hit games like Candy Crush, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. On the condition that Microsoft makes several commitments to increase competition in the nascent cloud-based gaming market, European regulators speaking for the 27-nation bloc approved the deal on Monday.  Microsoft claims that the State Administration for Market Regulation in China gave it the green light without any conditions. However, as of...