Regulatory Actions Throw Microsoft’s Mobile Gaming Ambitions Into Doubt

Considering how uncompetitive the app-store market is, it is a little ironic that the CMA’s decision could make it harder for Microsoft to compete there, says Aurelien Portuese, Director of The Schumpeter Project at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

“It’s very hard to create a mobile operating system and to design phones that are attractive to consumers,” he says. While regulators may be trying to “artificially instill” competition in marketplaces like these, he says, “the market can provide for it only if the antitrust authorities don’t block it, very ironically, in the name of competition.”