As reported byReutersand spotted byVGC, a source familiar with the matter has claimed that the European Commission sent out a 91-page questionnaire to major developers, publishers, distributors, and even PC operating system providers to gain some information from them about the consequences ofMicrosoftacquiringActivision-Blizzardif the deal goes through.
While the source has not revealed any documents or images from this questionnaire, they have shared some of the questions listed that sound interesting. Apparently, the EU regulators are eager to learn from gaming companies about the potential franchises that could be alternatives to theCall of Dutyseries. Also, the EU Commission is keen to understand whether Call of Duty is truly the most valuable video game franchise for distributors or not.
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The source also mentions a question about the exclusivity concepts or plans that Microsoft would intend to execute after acquiring Activision-Blizzard, such as the possibility of degrading a game’s quality on rival consoles, offering the same product for a higher price on PlayStation consoles, making titles a timed-exclusive on Xbox consoles, or delivering updates to a game that couldn’t be accessible on rival consoles.
Reportedly, the gaming companies have been asked to send their response to the questionnaire before Christmas, which means they should answer before this weekend.
Previously, the Brazilian regulator did a similar investigation by asking companies such as Google,Amazon,Ubisoft, andSonyabout the Activision-Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft, and based on the leaked answers, none of the companies responded as skeptical and negatively as Sony to the questions.
Microsoft has made it clear on multiple occasions that they intend to release the Call of Duty games on PlayStation for up to 10 years. The tech giant even attempted to offer this as an official commitment to gain the approval of regulators around the world.
Recently, the US regulatorFTC did announce that it will sue Microsoftto block the Activision-Blizzard deal, which does sound like a huge obstacle for the Xbox owner to make this deal happen. Thus far, only the regulators of Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Serbia have approved the deal.
