{"id":25699,"date":"2023-02-24T08:51:55","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T08:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal"},"modified":"2023-02-24T09:10:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T09:10:54","slug":"microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft defends $69bn Activision deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Microsoft has defended its proposal to buy Activision Blizzard \u2013 the maker of Call of Duty and Candy Crush \u2013 at an EU competitions hearing. Microsoft says it believes the $68.7bn (\u00a356.8bn) deal will bring more choice to more gamers.<\/p>\n

But rival Sony, which also attended the hearing, says the merger would give Microsoft too much control over some of the world\u2019s most popular games. Sony owns PlayStation \u2013 a major rival to Microsoft\u2019s Xbox console.<\/p>\n

Microsoft president Brad Smith described the EU hearing on Tuesday as \u201can important day\u201d. He also rejected concerns voiced by Sony that Activision Blizzard games \u2013 specifically Call of Duty \u2013 might become restricted to Xbox users if the merger goes ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has never been about spending $69bn so we could acquire titles like Call of Duty and make them less available,\u201d he said after the hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not a great way to turn a $69bn asset into something that will become more valuable over time.
\nIn a statement, Activision Blizzard said: \u201cWe are confident regulators will find that our proposed merger will enhance competition and create greater opportunities for workers and better games for our players.<\/p>\n

\u201d Chip designer Nvidia and Google were also understood to be present, although the hearing was not open to the press or public.<\/p>\n

Nvidia and Microsoft have announced a partnership which would enable both Xbox PC games and Activision Blizzard titles to become available via Nvidia\u2019s cloud-streaming platform GeForce Now.<\/p>\n

The tech firm has to convince regulators around the world that the deal \u2013 the largest in gaming history \u2013 would not harm its competitors. Today was Microsoft\u2019s final chance to put forward its case in Europe before the commission makes its decision.<\/p>\n

Sony rejects compromise Some countries \u2013 including Chile, Brazil and Saudi Arabia \u2013 have already approved it. The UK\u2019s competition watchdog recently said it was opposed to the deal, although it has yet to announce its final ruling, and the European Commission ordered an investigation.<\/p>\n

One suggestion made by the UK Competition and Markets Authority was that Call of Duty could be sold off separately. Microsoft has pledged to make all current Activision Blizzard games available on Nintendo, Sony and Steam platforms for at least the next 10 years, but Sony has so far rejected this deal.<\/p>\n

Games companies previously acquired by the firm include Minecraft maker Mojang and Fallout creator Bethesda. It has already announced that Bethesda\u2019s new game Starfield will start off as an Xbox exclusive when it launches.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Microsoft has defended its proposal to buy Activision Blizzard \u2013 the maker of Call of Duty and Candy Crush \u2013 at an EU competitions hearing. Microsoft says it believes the $68.7bn (\u00a356.8bn) deal will bring more choice to more gamers. But rival Sony, which also attended the hearing, says the merger would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,246,245,1603],"class_list":["post-25699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-microsoft"],"yoast_head":"\nMicrosoft defends $69bn Activision deal - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Microsoft has defended its proposal to buy Activision Blizzard \u2013 the maker of Call of Duty and Candy Crush \u2013 at an EU co ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Microsoft defends $69bn Activision deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Microsoft has defended its proposal to buy Activision Blizzard \u2013 the maker of Call of Duty and Candy Crush \u2013 at an EU co ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-24T08:51:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-24T09:10:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677216147.07.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Microsoft defends $69bn Activision deal\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-24T08:51:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-24T09:10:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal\"},\"wordCount\":431,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677216147.07.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Microsoft\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/microsoft-defends-69bn-activision-deal\",\"name\":\"Microsoft defends $69bn Activision deal - 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