If Microsoft accepts a suggestion from a UK authority, Call of Duty might be removed from the Microsoft Activision-Blizzard merger.
Since July of last year, the Competition and Market Authority has been investigating the Microsoft/Activision-Blizzard merger. This is attempting to establish whether the result would be a monopoly situation.
Call of Duty should be removed from the deal, according to the CMA.
The CMA stated in the paper that it has proposed three different strategies for resolving any potential monopoly.
The Activision-Blizard merger would be deemed to be null and non-nil, and the Activision-Blizard merger would be dissolved, or the company would be sold off the segment that has Call of Duty, or the parties' behavior, which might be obligated to non-exclusivity.
The CMA is open to other possibilities, and says it will "also invite suggestions from interested parties on these initial opinions." The final report on the legality of the acquisition is due by April 26 and will decide whether or not the transaction should be approved.
Microsoft said in a statement to VGC: "We are committed to providing effective and easily enforceable solutions that respond to the CMA's concerns."
"Our intention to guarantee long-term 100% equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Nintendo, Steam, and others maintains the agreement's benefits to gamers and developers and increases competition in the marketplace."
Microsoft emphasized that "75 percent of respondents to the CMA's public hearing" believed the Activision Blizzard merger was beneficial to the gaming industry in the United Kingdom.