The European Commission has issued a clarification on social media after top staff member’s comments following accusations of perceived bias in the probe into Microsoft being granted an acquisition deal for Activision Blizzard.
Ricardo Cardoso, Deputy Head of Unit Interinstitutional & Outreach at the governing body, tweeted today that the “Commission is working to ensure that you will still be able to play Call of Duty on other consoles (including my Playstation)”.
One of the criticisms of Sony’s latest statement is that it goes against previous statements made by Microsoft. Specifically, Microsoft has promised a foreseeable future for Call of Duty on PlayStation, just as Sony has in their new statement.
The European Commission clarified that Cardoso is not involved in the process whatsoever.
The statement reads that Mr. Cardoso is in the Director General of the Internal Market, and not in the Directorate General for Competition.
“Mr Cardoso, who is not involved with the assessment of this transaction, has also been tweeting in a personal capacity.”
It’s clear that Cardoso doesn’t have any position with the Commission on Mergers and Acquisitions, and he doesn’t even work in this department. His comments are strictly personal.
In the replies to the original tweet, PlayStation fans seemed to be irked most by the use of “my” when referring to their console. However, it’s unclear if this was meant as an affinity for PlayStation or owning the console in question.
After considering the European Commission’s complaints, Microsoft is officially launching an in-depth probe of their acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The European Commission said on Tuesday it is moving ahead with a second phase “to determine the impact of the transaction on competition.”
As the FTC states, the proposed acquisition may reduce competition for consoles and personal computers. It has also been reported that this deal may put Xbox One at a benefit over other current competitors in terms of popularity and profitability.
While the deal has been approved by regulators in Saudi Arabia and Brazil, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority recently expanded its investigation to a second phase. The authority is currently inviting members of the public to share their views on the acquisition before coming to a final decision on what to do.
The US Federal Trade Commission is finally making a decision on the Facebook/Instagram deal this month.
Microsoft’s head of gaming Phil Spencer believes that, although regulations can be burdensome and create challenges, “they’re necessary to protect the players.” He remains confident that the deal will be approved.
The rewrites are not always clear but usually improve on the prolix source text.
