CMA clears Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard

The UK’s competition regulator has finally cleared Microsoft’s $69billion acquisition of ‘Call of Duty’ maker Activision Blizzard after the US tech giant restructured deal substantially addressed its concerns.

Activision had in August agreed to sell its streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment, and Microsoft last month offered remedies to ensure the terms of the sale were enforceable by the regulator, soothing some residual concerns.

In a statement, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said: ‘The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers,

The group announced the biggest gaming deal in history in early 2022, but the $69 billion (£54billion) acquisition was in April blocked by the CMA, which was concerned the US computing giant would gain too much control of the nascent cloud gaming market.

Microsoft branded it the ‘darkest day in four decades in Britain’ and Activision claimed the UK was ‘clearly closed for business’. 

The US tech giant said it was ‘grateful for the CMA’s thorough review and decision’.

Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said: ‘We have now crossed the final regulatory hurdle to close this acquisition, which we believe will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide.’

Ben Barringer, equity research analyst at Quilter Cheviot said: ‘After many months of regulatory rumbling, the Activision-Microsoft saga can finally be put bed and the gaming world can move on. 

‘For Microsoft, this deal has ended up without the cloud gaming rights to Activision titles. 

‘This is ultimately a fairly big deal given the roster of games Activision has, such as Call of Duty, Overwatch and Candy Crush – big franchises with strong consumer loyalty.

‘Ultimately, Microsoft will see this now as the opportunity to move forward with its cloud gaming strategy, and with or without Activision titles, it will still look to dominate the space and leverage the Xbox brand.

‘For the CMA, this will be seen as a victory, but they will need to be careful not to over-regulate the tech sector.’

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