Microsoft’s revised deal to acquire Activision Blizzard has now been cleared by the UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA).
The British regulatory body previously blocked the deal over concerns about the growing cloud gaming market - game streaming - prompting Microsoft to restructure the buyout. The revised deal plans to sell Activision Blizzard’s streaming rights to publisher Ubisoft for 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 recent statement. "With the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, 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," said Activision’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 to Twitter: "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 to every studio that Xbox owns is about to get substantially larger. Although some fans were peeved at the prospect of one company owning so much.
