Microsoft cleared to acquire Activision Blizzard as UK grants approval
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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has given Microsoft the approval needed to finally acquire Activision Blizzard.
The regulator blocked the $68.7 billion deal earlier this year, primarily over concerns about competition in the cloud gaming space.
To address this, Microsoft proposed a modified deal in which is sells the cloud gaming rights for all of Activision Blizzard's titles - including any new releases for the next 15 years - to an independent third party, Ubisoft. The CMA provisionally approved this deal two weeks ago.
In its final decision published this morning, the CMA stated that the sale of these rights 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 regulator emphasised it will also allow Ubisoft to distribute Activision’s games under any cloud gaming business model, including multi-game subscription services other than Xbox Game Pass. Other cloud gaming providers will be also able to use non-Windows operating systems for Activision's games.
Consent for the deal to go ahead is conditional on the Ubisoft divestment agreement completing before the acquisition.
In its provisional approval, the CMA said it had limited residual concerns about the modified deal but now says that Microsoft has "[given] undertakings that will ensure that the terms of the sale of Activision’s rights to Ubisoft are enforceable by the CMA."
The CMA has also been running a public consultation to gather external opinions on the modified deal, including those of the public, but said there was no feedback that sufficiently argued
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