The CAT judge, Mr Smith, who is hearing the parties in the appeal to block the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by the CM extensionhinted during the hearing that currently it doesn’t make much sense to hold six days of hearings under the agreement reached between Microsoft and Sony to keep the Call of Duty series on the PlayStation platform.
The CMA attorney of his own stated that theimpact of the agreement will have to be suitably evaluated, with Judge Smith explaining how it makes no sense to defend a decision (that of the CMA on the blocking of the acquisition) in the face of such an important event for the parties.
The judge therefore seemed to allude to the possibility that the CMA recognizes the change of scenario after the agreement between Sony and Microsoft. For the judge, this is such an important point that he mentions it several times in the hearing and considers it a more important topic than the behavioral remedies that Microsoft could propose in the future.
Sony’s role
In short, it seems that the agreement between Sony and Microsoft, which arrived close to the closing of the acquisition, has completely changed the scenario, putting in difficulty those who had relied on Sony’s positions on the acquisition to block the deal.
We will see what effects it will have on the final decision of the CMA, which at this point could anticipate the decision of the CAT, canceling the appeal process.
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