Activision is one of the biggest gaming companies in the world and owns titles including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush Saga.
The CMA blocked its takeover by Microsoft, which owns the Xbox console, warning that the deal would leave the company with a dominant position in the fast growing cloud gaming market.
This week, the European Commission approved the deal on the condition that Microsoft make Activision games available on other game streaming services.
The decision has increased the scrutiny on the CMA given the divergence by its nearest neighbour.
Mr Bokkerink said the CMA disagreed with the EU’s decision. He argued that Microsoft’s concessions “would replace a free, competitive market with one subject to new ongoing regulation of the games Microsoft sells, the platforms to which it sells them, and the conditions of sale”.
He defended regulation more widely at a time that authorities are being accused of inhibiting growth.
“Competition and contested markets can be an astonishing force for good. Good for people who get genuine choice at high quality and low prices. Good for businesses who are free to innovate, grow and reap the rewards. And good for the economy through higher productivity, innovation, business investment, job creation and real wage growth.”
Mr Bokkerink wrote: “The UK is as open for business as it has ever been thanks to its pro-competition approach.”
Microsoft has vowed to appeal against the CMA’s decision, with a challenge expected to be lodged at the Competition Appeal Tribunal within days. The US Federal Trade Commision is separately suing to block the deal.
‘The UK is as open for business as it has ever been because it is pro-competition’
By Marcus Bokkerink
From long-established multinationals to scrappy start-ups, over the past 30 years I’ve had the privilege of working with over a hundred businesses of all shapes and sizes. I helped build their customer propositions, their business models and their competitive strategies.
So when I look at the role of competition in the UK economy it is not as an economist or lawyer. It is as a businessperson.
What I learnt across that career is that competition and contested markets can be an astonishing force for good. Good for people who get genuine choice at high quality and low prices. Good for businesses who are free to innovate, grow and reap the rewards. And good for the economy through higher productivity, innovation, business investment, job creation and real wage growth.
The importance of competitive markets and the tremendously positive impact this had on investment and growth was a key motivator when I took up my role as CMA chairman. It is at the heart of our new strategy at the CMA.
If we allow entrenched market power to grow, we all suffer. Businesses who want to compete, suffer. Innovators who want to get their innovations to market, suffer. People who seek choice and continuous improvements in quality and price, suffer.
That is why I fundamentally disagree with the suggestion that the CMA’s decision to prevent Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision means the UK is closed for business. Indeed, I was surprised some took this statement at face value.
Let me recap the decision. Last month, a group of independent panel members concluded a rigorous year-long investigation into Microsoft’s proposed $69bn (£55bn) purchase of Activision. New post-Brexit powers enabled us to focus on the impact on the people and businesses of the UK.
