Microsoft has been sparring with the UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), ever since it announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.
The CMA initially feared that the deal would grant Microsoft too much of an advantage against its competitors, with it taking control of some of the biggest IPs in gaming, such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Warcraft.
After many months of negotiations, court rulings, and leaks, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard appears to nearly be done. With a major milestone in the battle with the CMA reportedly being met today, it may only be a matter of days until the acquisition is completed.
Microsoft's deal to acquire Activision Blizzard is potentially nearly done
The deal between Microsoft and Activision has gone far from smoothly on Microsoft's end. It has recently been having to deal with the results of a major leak regarding the company's future games, including a Bethesda release roadmap from 2020 that indicated the development of both a Fallout 3 and an Elder Scrolls: Oblivion remaster in the near future.
Microsoft's deal to acquire Activision has been held up by the CMA since April 2023, with the CMA citing concerns over how dominant Microsoft may become over the cloud gaming market. The CMA also took issue with Microsoft becoming the owner of too many major gaming IP, with concerns that this would "reduce innovation and [give] less choice for UK gamers" in the coming years.
However, last month Microsoft's restructured deal received preliminary approval from the CMA. The changes to the deal primarily involved Microsoft promising to sell the cloud gaming rights for all Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft, resolving the CMA's concerns over Microsoft gaining a monopoly on cloud gaming.
Today is the deadline for the CMA to throw out Microsoft's proposal, on the grounds that it has not addressed their concerns sufficiently. As the CMA granted preliminary approval for the deal, this deadline is expected to be a formality. Barring any surprises, today's deadline should pass without issue and Microsoft will be able to proceed with the purchase.
Given how prolonged and tedious the acquisition process has been for Microsoft, having lasted nearly two years, they'll no doubt be hoping that the deal can be fully wrapped up by the end of next week at the latest.
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