Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is potentially almost completed.
Microsoft has been fighting over Microsoft, the UK regulator known as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) since the company announced its plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.
The CMA was initially concerned that the agreement would give Microsoft an an advantage over its rivals as it would control several of the most significant IPs within games, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Warcraft.
After months of discussions, court rulings, and leaks, Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard appears nearly complete. The major hurdle in the dispute and the CMA set to be achieved this morning could take just a few weeks before the purchase has been completed.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is potentially nearly completed.
The agreement with Microsoft and Activision is not going well on Microsoft’s part. The company has been forced to face the consequences of a massive leak about the future of its games, which included a Bethesda release schedule for 2020 that revealed that there was a possibility of developing both Fallout 3 and an Elder Scrolls: Oblivion remake within the next few years.
The CMA has held Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision since the beginning of April 2023. The CMA is theorizing about the degree of dominance Microsoft could become in the gaming industry in the cloud. The CMA has also expressed concern about Microsoft being the sole owner of numerous gaming brands, citing concerns that this could “reduce innovation and [give] less choice for UK gamers” over the next few years.
In the end, Microsoft’s revised deal was granted initial approval from the CMA. The modifications to the agreement principally comprised of Microsoft offering that it would offer the rights to cloud gaming for the entire collection of Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft and resolving CMA’s concerns regarding Microsoft getting a monopoly in cloud gaming.
The deadline is today to ask the CMA to reject Microsoft’s plan because it hasn’t been sufficiently addressed to their concerns. Since the CMA approved the preliminary version of the acquisition, the deadline for this is likely to be an official decision. The deadline will be met if nothing goes wrong, and Microsoft can move forward with the acquisition.
In light of how long and complex the acquisition process has been for Microsoft and has lasted for more than two years, the company will doubt that this deal will be concluded at the end of the week or by next.
