The head of Britain’s competition watchdog has insisted they will not create a “hostile” environment for tech companies after the agency came under fire for blocking Microsoft’s $75bn takeover of Activision Blizzard.
Answering questions from members of the British Parliament on Tuesday, Competition and Markets Authority chairman Marcus Bokkerink and chief executive Sarah Cardell defended Britain’s stance on the biggest deal in the video games industry despite the European Commission’s acceptance of Microsoft’s pledge And approved the cooperation – Monday.
“I think it’s absolutely critical that we maintain a constructive dialogue (with the tech industry), and that’s something I seek to do, and I do that quite often,” Cadel said, “so I don’t think we’re operating, sort of broadly. Say, in a hostile environment.”
Cardell added that she told tech companies at a preparatory meeting ahead of the launch of a new digital marketplaces unit run by the CMA: “This is an area where we want to work together.”
Conservative MP Bim Afolami has questioned the regulator’s top executives about how its decision takes into account the UK’s “international reputation” after executives at Microsoft and Activision said the CMA’s decision risked damaging the UK’s image with overseas businesses .
“I will challenge the premise that doing business in the UK affects international confidence that is best maintained by turning a blind eye to anti-competitive mergers,” Bokkerink said. “We remain vigilant . . . invest.”
Responding to the contrasting decisions by the CMA and the EU, Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick said that “the UK is clearly closed to business”, while saying his company would “meaningfully expand our investment and workforce across the EU”.
Cardell told MPs that officials in both the CMA and Brussels agreed on the Activision deal’s potential harm to the cloud gaming market, but they differed in their acceptance of Microsoft’s proposed remedies.
While the EU says Microsoft has agreed to allow buyers of Activision games to stream them on rival cloud gaming platforms for up to 10 years, Khadr said it considered the proposal “very carefully.” After “numerous iterations,” CMA officials “finally concluded that the remedy would not be effective in addressing competition concerns.”
She also denied Kotick’s allegations that the CMA was a “tool” of US antitrust enforcers, who also opposed the deal.
“We absolutely do not take orders from other agencies. We do our own analysis,” she said.