Previous UK chancellor’s advisory company helping with obstructed Activision Blizzard offer

In regards to its potential merger with Microsoft, Activision Blizzard is working with Robey Warshaw, a UK consultancy firm that counts former chancellor George Osborne among its partners.

After the $68.7 billion takeover was recently blocked by UK regulator the CMA but managed to win permission in the EU, Sky News reports that Robey Warshaw is advising Activision Blizzard on the deal.

The company has been linked to the merger for quite some time and is said to have a “crucial” role in it. According to the company website, Robey Warshaw “offers customers with business financing guidance, consisting of help with tactical matters and business deals.”

Former UK Chancellor Osborne joined Robey Warshaw as a partner in 2021. He served in that role from 2010 to 2016.

Robey Warshaw lowered his voice when Sky approached him to talk about the move. In-game Designer reached out to Activision Blizzard to learn more about the company’s part in the merger.

An assisting hand for Activision?

Microsoft’s massive takeover of Activision Blizzard is currently stalled in the United Kingdom. Earlier this year, the CMA blocked the deal out of concern that Microsoft would dominate the cloud gaming sector, stifling innovation and hurting customers in the process.

The CMA’s reasoning was “flawed for numerous factors,” Microsoft’s business VP Rima Ally said, “including its overestimation of the role of cloud streaming in the gaming market and our position in it.” Microsoft has now challenged the decision.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has declared the company is “totally dedicated” to the deal and has suggested the CMA has “problematic understanding” of the cloud gaming market.

We remain fully committed to this purchase and intend to file an appeal. “The CMA’s decision rejects a practical course to address competitors’ issues and discourages technology development and financial investment in the UK,” Smith wrote in April.

We are committed to bolstering these contracts through regulatory measures, and have already negotiated deals that will make Activision Blizzard’s popular games available on 150 million more devices. We’re especially disappointed that, despite careful deliberation, this decision appears to reflect a flawed comprehension of this market and of how the proper cloud innovation actually operates.

However, Activision Blizzard criticised the decision as a “injustice to UK people, who deal with significantly alarming financial potential customers,” and indicated it would reevaluate its development plan for the UK in light of the ruling.

The publisher of Call of Duty noted that “global innovators big and small will remember that—despite all its rhetoric—the UK is plainly closed for company.”

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