The all-cash deal announced more than a year ago has been scrutinized by regulators around the world over fears that it would give Microsoft and its Xbox console control of Activision’s hit franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.įierce opposition has been driven by rival Sony, which makes the PlayStation gaming system. The commission's approval “has removed one potential major roadblock for this deal” but “it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in a stronger position” to overturn the U.K.'s rejection, said Liam Deane, a game industry analyst for tech research and advisory firm Omdia. Though Apple and Google have panned the legislation, it has received support from independent developers as well as the, a nonprofit alliance of developers formed last year to push for changes to app-marketplace rules.The acquisition, sweetened by Microsoft's promises to automatically license Activision games to cloud gaming platforms, “would no longer raise competition concerns and would ultimately unlock significant benefits for competition and consumers,” said the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm and top antitrust watchdog. The measure, which would also empower the state attorney general to investigate complaints for alleged violations of the law, still has to be approved by the state senate before it heads to Republican Gov. and Australia, and submitting an antitrust complaint against Apple last month at the European Commission.Īrizona’s House of Representatives narrowly approved a bill Wednesday that would restrict operators of large software application marketplaces from requiring developers to exclusively use their payment processing systems for in-app purchases. has made similar claims, filing lawsuits against Apple in the U.S., U.K. “Fortnite" game developer Epic Games Inc. The EU cases into Apple stem from multiple complaints filed by app developers, including Spotify Technology SA, over its treatment of app developers, alleging that the company has tried to stifle competition. through the end of 2020, and the CMA on Thursday said that it is coordinating its investigation with the European Commission, the EU’s top competition enforcer, as well as with other antitrust agencies around the world.Īpple has said the complaints in the EU cases are baseless.Īt the core of the antitrust concerns is how much control and share of revenue technology giants should have in relation to popular apps. The EU case could involve some of Apple’s conduct in the U.K. The U.K.’s new investigation covers similar ground to a set of probes that the European Union opened into Apple’s App Store policies last June, while the U.K. Andrea Coscelli, the regulator’s chief executive, said special scrutiny is warranted for “complaints that Apple is using its market position to set terms which are unfair or may restrict competition and choice-potentially causing customers to lose out when buying and using apps."Īpple said Thursday that it will work with the CMA, and defended the requirements it places on app developers when submitting apps, saying they are “applied fairly and equally to all developers" and are necessary “to protect customers from malware and to prevent rampant data collection without their consent."
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