They Played the Merger Game: A Retrospective Analysis in the UK Videogames Market

Quaderni - Working Paper DSE N° 908

44 Pages Posted: 8 Oct 2013

See all articles by Luca Aguzzoni

Luca Aguzzoni

European Union - Directorate General for Competition

Elena Argentesi

University of Bologna - Department of Economics

Paolo Buccirossi

Laboratorio di economia, antitrust, regolamentazione (LEAR)

Lorenzo Ciari

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Tomaso Duso

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin); TU Berlin- Faculty of Economics and Management - Empirical Industrial Organization; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Massimo Tognoni

UK Competition Commission

Cristiana Vitale

Lear - Laboratory of Economics, Antitrust, Regulation

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 28, 2013

Abstract

We study the effect of a merger in a dynamic high-technology industry – the videogame market – which is characterized by frequent introduction of new products. To assess the impact of the merger between two large specialist retailers in the UK, we perform a difference-in-differences analysis comparing the price evolution of the merging parties to that of their 7 major competitors on an original sample of 196 videogames belonging to six different consoles. The results of our econometric analyses suggest that there has been a reduction in the general level of prices of both new and pre-owned games after the merger. This decline has been more marked for the merging parties, which suggests that the merger between Game and Gamestation did not lead to a substantial lessening of competition; rather it is consistent with the existence of efficiency gains.

Keywords: Mergers, Ex-post Evaluation, Videogames market, Retail sector

JEL Classification: K21, L24, L44, D22, O32

Suggested Citation

Aguzzoni, Luca and Argentesi, Elena and Buccirossi, Paolo and Ciari, Lorenzo and Duso, Tomaso and Tognoni, Massimo and Vitale, Cristiana, They Played the Merger Game: A Retrospective Analysis in the UK Videogames Market (September 28, 2013). Quaderni - Working Paper DSE N° 908, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2336938 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2336938

Luca Aguzzoni (Contact Author)

European Union - Directorate General for Competition ( email )

Place Madou, Madouplein 1
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode/Sint-Joost-ten-Noode
Brussels, B-1049
Belgium

Elena Argentesi

University of Bologna - Department of Economics ( email )

Piazza Scaravilli 2
Bologna, BO 40141
Italy
+39 051 209 2664 (Phone)
+39 051 209 8040 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/elena.argentesi/en

Paolo Buccirossi

Laboratorio di economia, antitrust, regolamentazione (LEAR) ( email )

Via di Monserrato 48
Rome, 00186
Italy
+39 066 830 0530 (Phone)

Lorenzo Ciari

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) ( email )

One Exchange Square
London, EC2A 2EH
United Kingdom

Tomaso Duso

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

TU Berlin- Faculty of Economics and Management - Empirical Industrial Organization ( email )

Berlin, 10585
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Massimo Tognoni

UK Competition Commission ( email )

Victoria House
Southampton Row
London, WC1B 4AD
United Kingdom

Cristiana Vitale

Lear - Laboratory of Economics, Antitrust, Regulation ( email )

Via di Monserrato, 48
Rome, 00186
Italy

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