UK Regulator Grants Preliminary Approval To Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition

gameinformer.com:

Last month, Microsoft submitted a new deal to the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority regulatory agency that proposes Ubisoft get the rights to Activision Blizzard game streaming for 15 years. Microsoft did this to get its acquisition of Activision Blizzard approved by the CMA after the regulator previously blocked it over cloud gaming concerns. One month later, the CMA has granted preliminary approval to Microsoft due to its new Ubisoft deal. 

The CMA says it has «identified limited residual concerns with the new deal» but that Microsoft has put forward remedies (see: Ubisoft's role) that the CMA «has provisionally concluded should address these issues.» The CMA is now consulting on those remedies before making a final official decision ahead of the October 18 deadline to do so. 

«The CMA considers that the restructured deal makes important changes that substantially address the concerns it set out in relation to the original transaction earlier this year,» the CMA writes in a new article. «In particular, the sale of Activision's cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft will prevent this important content – including games such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft – from coming under the control of Microsoft in relation to cloud gaming. The CMA originally found that Microsoft already has a strong position in cloud gaming services and could have used its control over Activision content to stifle competition and reinforce this position.

»The new deal instead results in the cloud streaming rights for Activision's games being transferred to an independent player, Ubisoft, maintaining open competition as the market for cloud gaming develops over the coming years. While the restructured deal is materially different