Ubisoft might have secured Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal approval
The Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal is one step closer to completion today as the UK watchdog previously standing in its way announces its provisional approval of recent changes made. Under the reworked deal, Ubisoft would instead purchase Activision’s cloud gaming rights, addressing concerns from the CMA that Microsoft’s acquisition of said rights “would harm competition in cloud gaming in the UK.” The organization is now consulting on the proposed remedies before it makes its final decision.
The proposed deal, which would see Microsoft acquire the makers of some of the biggest and best PC games including Call of Duty, Diablo 4, World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, and more, ran into a stumbling block in the UK, with the CMA declaring that its primary concern was around the level of control the deal would give Microsoft over the cloud gaming market. As such, Microsoft proposed a new deal in August which would see Assassin’s Creed and The Division publisher Ubisoft instead purchase those cloud gaming rights.
On the morning of Friday September 22, 2023, the UK’s CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) sent out a press release via the UK government website stating that the “new Microsoft/Activision deal addresses previous CMA concerns in cloud gaming.” It notes that “The prior sale of the cloud gaming rights will establish Ubisoft as a key supplier of content to cloud gaming services, replicating the role that Activision would have played in the market as an independent player.”
This, according to the CMA, prevents Microsoft reaching “a position to limit access to Activision’s key content to its own cloud gaming service or to withhold those games from rivals.” Contrary to formerly proposed solutions, it continues,
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