Microsoft isn’t happy with a UK regulator’s math on its Activision Blizzard deal
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition is at the messy stage. After recruiting Nvidia, Nintendo, and two other cloud gaming companies to help convince regulators to approve its $68.7 billion deal, Microsoft is now criticizing the UK’s Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) math calculations.
The CMA published a financial model that calculated Microsoft could turn a profit by withholding Call of Duty from PlayStation to draw former Sony fans to Xbox, basing its calculations on profits and losses from Xbox hardware, subscriptions, and games over a period of five years.
Microsoft argues that the CMA’s financial modeling is flawed. The CMA’s model compares gains on a five-year basis to losses on just a one-year basis, and…
