Lord Pannick: Activision hires top KC for £55bn Microsoft takeover legal challenge May 10, 2023 Computer Games company Activision Blizzard has hired Boris Johnson’s former lawyer to represent it in a £55 billion legal battle with the competition watchdog. Lord David Pannick KC, who represented the ex-prime minister through the partygate hearings, will be representing the games giant at a Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Financial Times reported. It comes after [...]
Game Over? CMA block of Activision deal to set the tone for other regulators April 26, 2023 The UK competition regulator today blocked Microsoft’s $70bn bid for the video game publisher, Activision Blizzard, citing concerns over competition in a fledgling cloud market. The move by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to scupper the deal — Microsoft’s largest acquisition — comes as a blow to the tech giant, which has already announced [...]
Sonic creator Sega offers to buy Angry Birds maker for £625 million April 17, 2023 The Japanese video game company behind ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ has offered to buy the Finland-based mobile gaming company, Rovio Entertainment Oyj, in a deal worth €706m (£625m), the companies announced on Monday. Sega Sammy has offered €9.25 per share for all outstanding shares in Rovio, which makes the mobile phone game, Angry Birds, a 19 [...]
Check mate as World Chess valued at £41.7m on London Stock Exchange debut April 6, 2023 World Chess has landed on the London Stock Exchange in a move that has priced the gaming and promotion company at £41.7m. The freshly-listed firm, which organises chess championships in both the US and UK, reaffirmed its strong cash position as it made its debut in the market revealing that half year revenue in 2022 [...]
CMA drops concerns over Microsoft takeover of Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard… for now March 24, 2023 The UK competition watchdog has provisionally dropped concerns that Microsoft’s proposed takeover of Call Of Duty developer Activision Blizzard would damage the UK console gaming market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last month warned the 68.7 billion dollar (£56.7 billion) deal could result in higher prices, fewer choices or less innovation for UK gamers. [...]
Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Call of Duty: The perfect storm that drove UK broadband traffic to record levels February 22, 2023 The top-of-the-table Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City pushed UK broadband traffic to record levels last week, City A.M can reveal. The eagerly anticipated fixture, which was only available to stream, helped traffic on the country’s biggest broadband network to reach a new peak of 29.1 terabits per second (Tb/s). BT and EE [...]
Nintendo vows to ‘energise’ its Switch console offering following £200m cut to full-year forecast February 7, 2023 Nintendo has cut its full year forecast blaming a drop off in demand for its Switch console. The Japanese company has dimmed its full-year forecasts to a net profit of 370bn yen (£2.3bn) for the year ending 31 March, down from 400bn yen (£2.5bn) predicted last November. In the trading update, the video games manufacturer [...]
Gambling firm In Touch fined over £6m for failing to protect vulnerable customers and money laundering breaches January 25, 2023 In Touch Games has been fined £6.1m for social responsibility and money laundering failings by the Gambling Commission. The gambling firm, which operates 11 websites including bonusboss.co.uk, cashmo.co.uk, drslot.co.uk, jammymonkey.com and slotfactory.com, was charged over not having appropriate policies, procedures and controls in place and not sufficiently considering or implementing the regulator’s money laundering and [...]
Fortnite fined over £420m as video game makers face regulation December 20, 2022 Makers of videogame Fortnite have been fined a record $520m (£428m) by the US’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The fine is a two part penalty for Epic Games, the video game company behind Fortnite. The company was fined for tricking players into making in-game purchases and for storing children’s data without parental consent. The penalty [...]
Miniclip CEO: ‘We’ve always followed where the players go, and the players are going to mobile’ November 1, 2022 Miniclip, the platform behind 8 Ball Pool, has shuttered its website as gamers once knew it, as the company follows consumers off desktops and into pockets. Speaking to City A.M., CEO Saad Choudri explained that the rise of mobile gaming left it a no-brainer for the company to step away from browser-based entertainment despite its [...]