Microsoft’s ‘good guy’ approach frays in UK gaming battle

Microsoft’s charm offensive with the world’s governments is starting to lose some of its luster as the software giant is confronting its toughest antitrust scrutiny since co-founder Bill Gates was in charge. “It does more than shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we’ve ever confronted before.” The sharp tone marked a shift for Microsoft, and Smith in particular, who joined the company in 1993 and helped defend it from antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and Europe who targeted the company’s personal computer software empire centered around the Windows operating system. “Basically, this is Microsoft and Brad Smith throwing their toys out of the pram after they didn’t get the decision they wanted after all the lobbying they did,” said Max von Thun, director of the Europe office of the Open Markets Institute, a proponent of stronger antitrust enforcement. “There is a lot of alignment there.” Cardell defended the decision, saying the U.K. is “absolutely open for business” and the regulator wants “to create an environment where a whole host of different companies can compete effectively, can grow and innovate.” The regulator’s concern was over cloud gaming, or games streamed over the internet, which represents a tiny fraction of the industry today but where Microsoft, owner of the Xbox game system, already has the most powerful platform and would become more so with the Activision takeover, making it harder for other platforms to compete, Cardell said. “I think the aggressive comments from Microsoft really are intended to get British lawmakers and the British people to be really aware that this body, that I think is attempting to do good, may actually do more to set the U.K. back.” Microsoft has long pitched itself as a government partner, working with local governments from Wisconsin to Poland to build the data centers that power its cloud computing business and touting its ability to defend cybersecurity, including in places like Ukraine.