Microsoft’s latest efforts at courting positive opinion for the Xbox Activision deal include running at least one print ad promoting it. The Verge’s Tom Warren spotted one of the advertisements in the Financial Times, which reads “Call of Duty for 150 million more players” in large black and green font.
Further down, Microsoft says this is just one of the company’s promises if the embattled merger proceeds, likely referring to its recent deal to bring the FPS game series to Nintendo consoles and pledge to make Xbox Game Pass games available on Nvidia GeForce Now.
Microsoft has placed a full-page ad in two newspapers in the UK today for its Activision Blizzard deal. "Call of Duty for 150 million more players," argues Microsoft as it pushes for its deal to be approved by UK regulators https://t.co/An7Lo465UK pic.twitter.com/PkayLYfEh8
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) March 8, 2023
The ads’ purpose is slightly unclear. The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority and European Union are expected to issue their final reports on the deal in April. The European Union is expected to permit the merger.
While the CMA’s initial report relied partially on consumer opinion to inform the panel’s findings, public perspective won’t play a role in determining whether the merger is approved, nor will it influence a U.S. court’s decision on the lawsuit the Federal Trade Commission filed to block the acquisition.
Sony remains unconvinced by Microsoft’s promises, though, and told regulators they believe Xbox could intentionally sabotage Call of Duty on PlayStation systems if the deal goes through.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
