The last hurdle in Microsoft‘s acquisition of Activision has been cleared as the UK regulator approves the deal after a period of consultation on the deal.
Duty Calls for Microsoft
The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) initially blocked the Xbox creator’s purchase of the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft juggernaut Activision Blizzard in April due to growing concerns about its impact on the future cloud gaming market.
The deal has been finalized and officially announced. It will bring the likes of Overwatch, Diablo, Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and World of Warcraft under Microsoft’s Xbox brand after previous acquisitions of Elder Scrolls studio Bethesda and Minecraft creator Mojang. The company insists it will not wall off lucrative franchises as part of the deal.
Microsoft shuffled the deck a bit and came up with a new proposal that saw the cloud services sold to Ubisoft outside the European Economic Area for all Activision Blizzard games released in the next 15 years.
Microsoft president Brad Smith had this to say on the news.
”We’re grateful for the CMA’s thorough review and decision today. We have now crossed the final regulatory hurdle to close this acquisition, which we believe will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide.”
CEO Bobby Kotick will stay on until he end of 2023 to help with the transition.
In a statement from the CMA, it’s clear the regulator is somewhat begrudgingly approving the acquisition, with criticism for Microsoft’s approach.
“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. It will allow Ubisoft to offer Activision’s content under any business model, including through multigame subscription services,” the statement continues, ”It will also help to ensure that cloud gaming providers will be able to use non-Windows operating systems for Activision content, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.”
“The CMA is resolute in its determination to prevent mergers that harm competition and deliver bad outcomes for consumers and businesses,” CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said in a statement. ”We take our decisions free from political influence, and we won’t be swayed by corporate lobbying.”
This was seemingly in reference to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s claims the UK games industry would suffer for blocking the deal.
”We delivered a clear message to Microsoft that the deal would be blocked unless they comprehensively addressed our concerns and stuck to our guns on that.”
Cardell warns others not to attempt what Microsoft had in dealing with the CMA.
”Businesses and their advisors should be in no doubt that the tactics employed by Microsoft are no way to engage with the CMA.
“Microsoft had the chance to restructure during our initial investigation but instead continued to insist on a package of measures that we told them simply wouldn’t work. Dragging out proceedings in this way only wastes time and money.”
