From the article:
'However, a number of recent takeovers of British firms by overseas ones has increased concerns that the UK market is declining in importance, and is failing to attract fast-growing tech firms.'
[but]...In its ruling on Wednesday
the regulator said it was concerned the deal would hit innovation and give gamers less choice in the fast-growing cloud gaming market, where people buy subscriptions to access games online.
Sony's position is that if the deal went ahead, Microsoft would have an incentive to restrict access to Activision's titles to PlayStation, which would be bad for gamers.
The CMA said Microsoft already had a 60-70% share of the cloud gaming market, and combining with Activision would "really reinforce... [its] strong position".
Gareth Sutcliffe, senior games analyst at Enders Analysis, said Microsoft had misjudged its approach.
"The signs were clear for months that this deal was in trouble with UK regulators and yet Microsoft executives didn't prioritise it or heed the evidence that it was," he told the BBC.
Mr Sutcliffe added that Mr Smith's comments about the UK were "somewhat redundant".
"They [Microsoft] had ample opportunity to do things differently over the past 16 months - they've not provided a convincing enough case."
So, to sum up: Microsoft whine they can't take a bigger piece of the cake and eat up huge profits at the expense of anyone else with a stake in the gaming business.
Tough noogies.
