It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Microsoft in the gaming space. The company behind the ever evolving Xbox staked its gaming resurgence on its system exclusive: Redfall. Microsoft had high hopes for the vampire looter-shooter, but those hopes have been dashed. The game’s been widely panned by gamers and critics alike, and boasts consistently low scores in reviews. The Redfall gaming debacle follows on the heels of another blow to Microsoft’s gaming bottom line. The company hoped to purchase powerhouse developer and publisher Activision in a deal worth nearly 70-billion dollars. The developer is known for franchise hits like Call of Duty and Diablo. But the UKs Competition and Markets Authority blocked the deal due to their concerns surrounding the future of cloud gaming.
Microsoft’s vice-chair and president, Brad Smith, released this statement following the deal’s blockage:
We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal. The CMA’s decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the United Kingdom. We have already signed contracts to make Activision Blizzard’s popular games available on 150 million more devices, and we remain committed to reinforcing these agreements through regulatory remedies. We’re especially disappointed that after lengthy deliberations, this decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works.
Ethan Gach, senior reporter at Kotaku brings us the latest.
