UK preliminarily approves Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard

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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has taken a significant step forward in approving Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and aims to make a final decision by October 6.

The regulator - which blocked the deal earlier this year - announced this morning that it believes the modified transaction Microsoft submitted last month addresses most of its concerns over whether the deal would harm competition, specifically in the cloud gaming space.

Microsoft has proposed divesting the cloud gaming rights for all current Activision Blizzard titles, plus any released in the next 15 years, to Ubisoft. The Assassin's Creed publisher would then be able to distribute these to other streaming services, thus preventing Microsoft from making them exclusive to its own cloud gaming ecosystem.

The CMA said this sales 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."

"The deal with Ubisoft also requires Microsoft to port Activision games to operating systems other than Windows and support game emulators when requested, addressing the other main shortcoming with the previous remedies package," the regulator said.

However, the CMA stopped short of fully approving the deal as it has "limited residual concerns" that certain conditions in this sale of cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft "could be circumvented, terminated or not enforced."

Microsoft has offered further remedies to address these concerns in a way that would be enforceable by the CMA.

While the regulator has