I'm curious how does a UK watchdog dictate what two American companies do?
The merger would affect business operations in the UK, as ABK does have studios and staff located in these regions. In addition, the merger would affect services offered by Microsoft to customers in the UK, and the CMA's job is to reduce market monopolies for UK-bound customers.
In addition, Sony's direct competition in the UK is Playstation Now streaming, which is included in Playstation Plus Premium subscriptions.
I also don't understand this.
Brazil said the merger was fine, why do they get a say? What does Kazakhstan think about it?
Brazil's regulators didn't have issues with the merger because of a few key issues:
1) They admitted that Microsoft taking CoD off Playstation would not tangibly affect Sony's hardware sales in the region. Consoles and videogames are heavily taxed in Brazil and surrounding regions.
2) They argued that they didn't have the mandate to protect business interests of competitors. Brazil's regulators noted that their duty was to consumer interests and market freedom, not ensuring that Sony wouldn't lose a small chunk of its business in the first-person-shooter genre in South American markets.
If this had been a deal between Microsoft and EA, and Sony said they were worried about FIFA / EA FC? Totally different argument.
3) Sony's arguments in Brazil specifically targeted hardware sales because streaming services aren't available there.
Our Competition Commision said more or less the same thing.
Interesting... I can see this being an issue in the (far?) future, but ATM things don't look too bright (Nintendo gamer, so what do I know?) for cloud.
ZA approving this deal means diddly squat, JP though... One would think that after that approval it would be plain sailing. Ironically Sony is opposing, while JP is okay.
Japan's regulators are probably reviewing their decision after realising that they missed out on protecting the cloud gaming market. Handhelds and portable gaming are big business in Japan, and there's healthy competition with Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch in the mix (and now Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, similar handhelds, and Logitech Cloud G).
But game streaming is taking off in Japan, and Sony is in the lead there. Microsoft is their closest competitor. Japan regulators missing out on the streaming angle damaged Sony's chances at squashing the merger in Asian markets.
But to be fair, Sony didn't look at it the same way either. They are not the leader in game streaming services in other markets. Microsoft's competition in those markets is Amazon, and was previously Google Stadia. Geforce Now doesn't really enter the picture.
As for Microsoft, they have over 20 million customers paying for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in order to use Xbox Game Streaming on their mobile devices. That's a doubling of users since March 2022 (within one year), and the UK CMA noted that Xbox Game Streaming users tripled their numbers in the UK in the same time.
The pandemic and lack of access to new consoles drove a lot of people in supported regions to use the service.
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