a dominant position and is acting The deal was closely examined in an abusive, and therefore by regulators around the world, illegal, manner. including the EU Commission, US If successful, such enforcement could Federal Trade Commission (FTC) result in courts ordering offenders and UK Competition and Markets to pay damages and/or change Authority (CMA). A two-year offending behaviours. Recent regulatory battle followed and the changes in the UK, such as the deal was only able to proceed with introduction of the Consumer Rights significant concessions aimed at the Act 2015 and subsequent Supreme cloud gaming market. Court decisions, have made it much This was a vertical merger, with easier to bring class action lawsuits Microsoft active in many gaming on behalf of consumers for breaches sub-markets including console of competition law. It is also possible hardware, and Activision mainly for third parties to bring damages being a developer-publisher. claims against companies which However, regulators had significant have been found by a regulator to concerns that the vertical integration have infringed competition law. of the two could allow Microsoft to become dominant in the cloud How is the video game gaming market, particularly if industry affected? Activision IP were made exclusive to The following are just a few examples Microsoft’s service. This case was of how competition law is having a one of the few where the UK regulator big impact in gaming. was willing to accept behavioural undertakings, having previously Merger control blocked the deal outright. The most spectacular recent A number of other vertical merger example of regulators intervening deals in the gaming and technology in gaming M&A was Microsoft’s sectors have faced similar challenges acquisition of Activision Blizzard. in recent years. There are growing 28