Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Deal Cleared By UK Regulator
Microsoft Redmond campus
We’re coming up on two years since Microsoft first announced its intention to acquire major publisher Activision Blizzard, and it looks like the end is finally in sight. After an uphill battle, Microsoft has finally had its deal cleared by the UK’s regulator, paving the way for the acquisition to close.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority previously blocked Microsoft’s attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard in a tense standoff that was the first major hurdle for the company in the regulatory space. The CMA was concerned that the apparently up and coming game streaming market would be significantly impacted if Microsoft made games like Call of Duty exclusively available through its own Game Pass streaming, so it put a stop to the deal.
After some public back and forth, a lengthy negotiation, and some very full pockets on very well-paid lawyers, Microsoft found a solution: Ubisoft was to handle Activision Blizzard game streaming, while the console, mobile, and PC space could continue as Microsoft had planned. The company hoped that this was enough to pull the CMA around, and it looks like that gamble was a success.
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In a statement from the CMA, the regulator said that it delivered a clear message to Microsoft that it would block the deal unless something changed, and that it’s satisfied with the marginally narrower scope of the deal now that Ubisoft is in the mix.
“In August this year Microsoft made a concession that would see Ubisoft, instead of Microsoft, buy Activision’s cloud gaming rights,” the CMA’s decision reads, “As a result of this concession, the CMA agreed to look afresh at the deal and launched a new investigation in August. That investigation has completed today with the CMA clearing this narrower transaction.”
With the CMA out of the way, Microsoft is pretty much cleared to close its acquisition and bring Activision Blizzard under its Xbox Game Studios banner. The only remaining question mark is in the US, where the FTC is still pursuing a case against Microsoft over the deal — but the courts have already stopped the FTC from blocking the closure of the deal, so any remedies the FTC might win could be too late to make much of an impact.
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One thing’s for sure though — if the deal does close, and it looks like it could in the coming days, you shouldn’t expect Activision games on Xbox Game Pass this year. Activision Blizzard says that even if the deal closes today, big games like Modern Warfare 3 and Diablo 4 won’t appear on the service until next year at the earliest.
