Microsoft’s $69 Billion Acquisition of ‘Call Of Duty’ Developer Approved by UK

LONDON – Britain’s competition watchdog on Friday approved Microsoft’s purchase of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard after a restructured deal resolved its earlier concerns.

Activision agreed in August to sell its streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment, and Microsoft last month offered remedies to ensure regulators could enforce the terms of the sale, allaying some remaining concerns.

The approval paves the way for Microsoft to complete the deal by October 18 after it extended the deadline by three months in July to get UK approval.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Microsoft’s streaming concession was a “game changer”, adding that it was the only competition agency worldwide to achieve this result.

“The new deal prevents Microsoft from locking out competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, maintaining competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers,” the release said.

Microsoft announced the biggest gaming deal in history in early 2022, but the CMA blocked the $69 billion acquisition in April over fears the US computing giant would gain too much control over the nascent cloud gaming market.

Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: “We sent a clear message to Microsoft that the deal will be blocked unless they fully address our concerns and we stand by our guns.”

He said the regulator, which has gained more power since Britain left the European Union, made its decision “free from political influence” and would not be “swayed by corporate lobbying”.

“Companies and their advisers should be in no doubt that the tactics used by Microsoft are not the way to deal with the CMA,” he said.

“Microsoft had the opportunity to restructure during the original investigation, but instead continued with a package of measures that we told them simply wouldn’t work.”

Microsoft said it was “grateful for the CMA’s thorough assessment and decision”.

“We have now cleared the final regulatory hurdle to complete this acquisition, which we believe will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide,” Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith said.

Activision Blizzard said: “CMA’s official approval is great news for our future with Microsoft, and we look forward to becoming part of the Xbox team.”