CMA clearance paves the way for Microsoft's acquisition to complete: "We're excited for the next chapter together"
Oct. 13, 2023Activision Blizzard King will soon fall under the Xbox maker’s ownership
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Microsoft’s revised deal to acquireActivision Blizzardhas now been cleared by the UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA).
The British regulatory body previouslyblocked the dealover concerns about the growing cloud gaming market - game streaming - prompting Microsoft to restructure the buyout. The revised deal plans tosell Activision Blizzard’s streaming rights to publisher Ubisoftfor the next 15 years - a change big enough to convince the CMA.
“We delivered a clear message to Microsoft that the deal would be blocked unless they comprehensively addressed our concerns and stuck to our guns on that,” said the CMA’s chief executive, Sarah Cardell, in a recentstatement. “With the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights toUbisoft, we’ve made sure Microsoft can’t have a stranglehold over this important and rapidly developing market.” Once the deal fully closes, Ubisoft can put games such as Overwatch, Call Of Duty, and Diablo on rival streaming services or their own Ubisoft+, in any markets outside the EEA. The CMA says this change “substantially addressed [our] concerns.”
“We now have all regulatory approvals necessary to close,“saidActivision’s CEO Bobby Kotick, “we’re excited for our next chapter together with Microsoft and the endless possibilities it creates.” Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, had a similarly optimistic sentiment in a statement posted toTwitter: “We have now crossed the final regulatory hurdle to close this acquisition, which we believe will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide.”
Following almost two years of court battles and regulatory back and forths, the acquisition will seemingly close very soon, putting Activision Blizzard (and King) under Microsoft’s ownership.
Our guide toevery studio that Xbox ownsis about to get substantially larger. Although somefans were peeved at the prospect of one company owning so much.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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