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Speaker 1: Microsoft's sixty nine billion dollar takeover of Activision Blizzard has

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Speaker 1: been approved by the UK's competition watchdog. The CMO says

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Speaker 1: that Microsoft's restructured offer satisfies the concerns it had. Well,

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Speaker 1: I'm joined now by the CEO of the UK Competition

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Speaker 1: and Market Authority, Sarah Cardell. Sierah, thanks for joining us

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Speaker 1: on the show. This is the biggest ever video games takeover.

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Speaker 1: Just explain how Microsoft managed to persuade you that it

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Speaker 1: should go through.

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Speaker 2: So we've been clear throughout this process that the merger

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Speaker 2: between Microsoft and Activision couldn't proceed if there were any

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Speaker 2: competition concerns, and we blocked the original deal because we

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Speaker 2: were really concerned about the combination of Microsoft's very strong

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Speaker 2: position across cloud, Xbox and Windows, combining that with Activision's

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Speaker 2: leading position as a games content provider, and we gave

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Speaker 2: a clear message to Microsoft that the deal couldn't proceed

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Speaker 2: on that basis. Now they came back with a major concession,

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Speaker 2: a fundamental restructure of the deal which sees Activision selling

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Speaker 2: the cloud streaming rights in relation to all of its content,

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Speaker 2: not just now, but only content created over the next

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Speaker 2: fifteen years, and putting those clouds streaming rights in the

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Speaker 2: hands of an independent competitor Ubisoft. Now that concession is

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Speaker 2: a real game changer because it breaks the stranglehold that

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Speaker 2: Microsoft would otherwise have had over this really important emerging

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Speaker 2: cloud gaming sector. It means that that sector is open

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Speaker 2: to competition, innovation, choice, and critically, it means that UK

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Speaker 2: gamers will be protected, will get the benefit of competitive

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Speaker 2: prices and better services. So it's on that basis that

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Speaker 2: today we're clearing that newly restructured deal.

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Speaker 3: You do say in the statement that you have limited

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Speaker 3: residual concerns with the new deal. What are they?

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Speaker 2: So what we announced a couple of weeks back was

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Speaker 2: that the deal resolved the substance that the major part

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Speaker 2: of our concerns, But we wanted to make sure that

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Speaker 2: the terms of the arrangement with Ubisoft were absolutely water tight.

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Speaker 2: We consulted on that basis a couple of weeks ago,

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Speaker 2: and we have today confirmed that we are satisfied with

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Speaker 2: those terms. We have got commitments effectively from Microsoft that

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Speaker 2: enable us to ensure those terms of water tight and

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Speaker 2: if we need to that we can enforce against them directly.

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Speaker 2: So on that basis, the deal is now clear to proceed.

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Speaker 1: How challenging is it to regulate nascent technologies, because a

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Speaker 1: lot of this deal was about not what's happening at

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Speaker 1: the moment, but what's happening in the future. That must

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Speaker 1: be difficult for a regulator.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think it's important rather than difficult, I would say,

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Speaker 2: so it's absolutely critical that we make sure where we

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Speaker 2: see these nascent markets, that competition is protected and that

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Speaker 2: these markets can develop in ways that are open, that

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Speaker 2: innovation can come in through a whole host of different

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Speaker 2: players in this market. And that was our real concern

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Speaker 2: here because we could see that with the original deal,

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Speaker 2: Microsoft would have this stranglehold over the market and would

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Speaker 2: really be able to skew the way that the market

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Speaker 2: was developing, so for example, we'd be able to retain

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Speaker 2: that content and make sure, for example, that it wasn't

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Speaker 2: available for cloud based subscription services going forward. So that

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Speaker 2: was our concern with the original deal, and as I say,

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Speaker 2: it forced Microsoft to make a major concession to ensure

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Speaker 2: that that market remains open. That you Bussoft now as

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Speaker 2: an independent player, has that concept which it can bribe

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Speaker 2: to a whole host of different cloud gaming providers, and

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Speaker 2: that will keep that market open. So it's important to

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Speaker 2: have that forward looking focus always in these digital markets.

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Speaker 3: I noticed that you did say in the statement that

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Speaker 3: you take your decisions free from political influence. It won't

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Speaker 3: be swayed by corporate lobbying. Microsoft's Bradsmith was extremely critical

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Speaker 3: when you first block this deal back in April, essentially

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Speaker 3: saying that it cast the UK as a bad place

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Speaker 3: to do business. Why did you feel that it was

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Speaker 3: necessary to make it clear that you were making this

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Speaker 3: decision free of lobbying.

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Speaker 2: So we have taken our decisions in this case, as

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Speaker 2: we always do, free from any influence of lobbying, and

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Speaker 2: based simply and objectively on the evidence before us. But

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Speaker 2: there has been a lot of discussion of those comments,

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Speaker 2: and I think it's really important to be clear that

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Speaker 2: any kind of lobbying activity, any kind of commentary like that,

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Speaker 2: is not going to influence the decisions that we take.

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Speaker 2: Our decisions will be grounded in the evidence, and where

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Speaker 2: we see competition concerns, we will stand firm unless those

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Speaker 2: concerns can be resolved. That sends an important message, I think,

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Speaker 2: not just in this case, but in future cases more generally.

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Speaker 1: How do you walk the type rope between holding big

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Speaker 1: tech firms accountable while also is ensuring that Britain is

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Speaker 1: considered the tech friendly market.

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Speaker 2: So I think key to making sure that Britain is

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Speaker 2: a tech friendly market is to have good, open and

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Speaker 2: competitive markets, which enables competition to flourish, both for big,

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Speaker 2: established players but also for many of the smaller and

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Speaker 2: growing players, many of whom, of course are UK businesses

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Speaker 2: or other businesses seeking to invest in the UK. So

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Speaker 2: we will stand firm and ensuring that those markets are competitive,

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Speaker 2: but we will also engage constructively in discussions where our

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Speaker 2: companies seek to resolve our concerns, and that is what

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Speaker 2: eventually happened with Microsoft. I should say that microsoft tactics

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Speaker 2: in delaying those discussions were not effective and it would

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Speaker 2: have been far better for Microsoft to come forward earlier

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Speaker 2: in the process, and that I think is critical as

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Speaker 2: we go forward with further engagement across these tech markets.

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Speaker 3: Do you expect your decision to give rise to other

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Speaker 3: regulators to perhaps rethink their position on this? Have you

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Speaker 3: been involved in any international coordination and other parts of the world.

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Speaker 2: So it's obviously for each agency to consider how to

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Speaker 2: assess the deal based on our own laws. I think

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Speaker 2: the EU has put out the statement today indicating that

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Speaker 2: they will not be reconsidering this deal. But our focus

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Speaker 2: is on the UK and making sure that our decisions

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Speaker 2: protect UK businesses and UK consumers.

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Speaker 1: Is the UK still big enough to regulate tech giants?

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Speaker 1: Could you really blocked this massive deal?

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Speaker 2: We absolutely did block this deal when it was originally

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Speaker 2: put forward, and we would have defended that decision to

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Speaker 2: block the deal in litigation. I think the fact that

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Speaker 2: Microsoft came forward with a major concession shows the effectiveness

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Speaker 2: of our position and we are in reality the only

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Speaker 2: agency globally that has been able to deliver this market

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Speaker 2: outcome which really protects competition in this cloud gaming market

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Speaker 2: going forward