Commentary
The British antitrust cops just announced they will oppose the proposed blockbuster $68.7 billion merger of two American companies—Microsoft and gaming company Activision Blizzard, the owner of the wildly popular game Call of Duty. This decision is bad news for investors in companies, gamers and workers. But it’s very good news for America’s competitors in Asia and Europe.
The foreign regulators claim the merger will give monopolistic power to Microsoft in the computer gaming industry.
The idea that Microsoft could monopolize this nearly $200 billion entertainment industry with tens of thousands of games and new ones introduced every day is far-fetched, to say the least. Even with the merger, Microsoft would only have about one-third of the computer console market that is now dominated by Sony. Sony’s PlayStation has two-thirds of the market, and no doubt it is thrilled by the British government’s action….