The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given its official approval to Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
This is a follow-up to the body’s announcement last month that it had provisionally approved the deal. The announcement came after a consultation period intended to help allay any lingering worries that some provisions of the version currently under consideration might be “circumvented, terminated, or not enforced.” The CMA halted the deal’s initial submission by Microsoft back in April due to concerns about how it might impact the market for cloud gaming.
After agreeing to let Ubisoft buy some cloud gaming rights for Activision games, the maker of Xbox then put forth a revised version of it. This new agreement is now approved by the CMA.
The organization said in a statement about the development that “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.”
We made it clear to Microsoft that the deal would not go through unless they fully addressed our concerns, and we stood by that stance. In the press release, CMA Chief Executive Officer Sarah Cardell said.
We made sure Microsoft couldn’t have a stranglehold on this significant and quickly expanding market by selling Activision’s cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft. This intervention will make sure people receive more competitive prices, better services, and more choice as cloud gaming expands, she added.
Microsoft’s communication strategy with the regulator was also criticized by Cardell, who stated: “Microsoft had the opportunity to restructure during our initial investigation, but instead continued to insist on a package of measures that we told them simply wouldn’t work. Such a drag-out of the process is a waste of time and resources.
The deal, if approved by the CMA, could now be closed as soon as later today, according to recent reporting from The Verge. Microsoft and Activision have been aiming for a closing date of October 13 for the transaction.
This would be before the merger deadline of October 18 that the companies agreed to after opposition from regulators forced an extension past the initial deadline of July 18, 2023.
However, according to Bloomberg, even if the transaction closes soon, Microsoft may still encounter opposition from the US Federal Trade Commission, which has stated that it intends to proceed with an internal challenge to the transaction (thanks, VGC).