Nintendo’s Call of Duty deal blamed for Microsoft block
The walls are crumbling down around the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King deal, as the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially blocked the partnership.
Despite already announcing that they will appeal, Microsoft's acquisition of the Call of Duty franchise and everything else that comes with ABK is looking more and more bleak by the day.
And, it seems that Call of Duty is at the heart of their problems, as the CMA has identified the first-person shooter as the main cause for concern to monopolise the gaming industry. According to the CMA, the deals set in stone with Nintendo aren't believable.
UK CMA mock Microsoft's Call of Duty deal with Nintendo
Click to enlargeOne of the biggest concerns for the CMA was that Microsoft buying Call of Duty would lead to "reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come," especially in the console wars.
This comes despite the deals that Microsoft has already signed with the likes of NVIDIA and Nintendo, bringing Call of Duty to their consoles for a decade. In fact, the CMA was less than convinced by Microsoft's deal with Nintendo, as the Switch publishers don't have the facilities to house CoD.
"Nintendo does not currently offer CoD, and we have seen no evidence to suggest that its consoles would be technically capable of running a version of CoD that is similar to those in Xbox and PlayStation in terms of quality of gameplay and content," the CMA said.
Nintendo's Call of Duty deal blamed for Microsoft merger breakdown
Click to enlargeThe CMA even rubbished the Call of Duty deal with Nintendo, claiming that the family-orientated consumer would scarcely pivot from Mario to Captain Price.
"We found that Nintendo's consoles compete less closely with either Xbox or PlayStation, generally offering consoles with different technical specifications, and with its most popular titles tending to be more family- and child-friendly," they added.
Nintendo's deal was clearly not enough to convince the CMA that Microsoft is open to sharing the premium Call of Duty experience, which appears to have impacted their thought process over whether Sony would get the same treatment.
Maybe, the only move left is for Microsoft to actually sever Call of Duty from the deal and walk away with Overwatch, Candy Crush, and World of Warcraft.
