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Microsoft has announced that it is working on a mobile game app store to compete with Google Play and the Apple App Store. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating whether Microsoft should be allowed to buy Activision Blizzard for around $69 billion.
Activision Blizzard is the developer behind several major game franchises such as Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and Call of Duty, so state regulators believe the deal will reduce competition in the video game industry. I am concerned about But on Tuesday, Microsoft sent out a 33-page response defending its acquisition plans. In the same document, the company also mentions that Activision Blizzard has promised to support Microsoft’s covert efforts to create app store rivals to Google and Apple.
“This transaction enhances Microsoft’s ability to create a next-generation gaming store that works across devices, including mobile, as a result of the addition of Activision Blizzard content,” Microsoft wrote. “Building on the existing community of Activision Blizzard gamers, Xbox will expand the Xbox store to mobile and attract gamers to the new Xbox Mobile platform.”
Of course, Microsoft could have built such a platform without buying it. But Redmond argues that Activision Blizzard’s various games and his franchises are important in getting consumers to try mobile game stores.