Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision-Blizzard is about to hit home

Microsoft has taken a big step closer to acquiring video game giant Activision Blizzard. British competition watchdogs said on Friday that their previous concerns about Microsoft’s concessions had been addressed, according to preliminary assessments.

Microsoft had offered, among other things, to transfer the cloud gaming rights to the gaming company Ubisoft for 15 years. Ubisoft may also bring the games to cloud gaming services beyond the Windows and Xbox platforms. This means that if Microsoft completes the proposed acquisition, it will not be able to release Activision Blizzard games exclusively on Xbox Cloud Gaming.

The blockade by the British competition regulator CMA is currently the last hurdle in completing the deal. More than forty other countries had already approved the deal. The EU gave the green light on the condition that players on other platforms in the EU will have access to current and future Activision Blizzard games for the next ten years.

Britain’s antitrust watchdogs were particularly concerned that the purchase of Activision Blizzard would limit competition in cloud gaming. The games run on servers on the Internet and are only transferred to users’ devices. Microsoft is already strong in the industry.

The CMA now wants to consult before making a final decision. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard had extended their deadline for completing the acquisition to October 18. Microsoft executive Brad Smith emphasized Friday that they will work to get approval by then.

A $69 billion deal

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard announced the deal, which was worth around $69 billion at the time, in early 2022. With the purchase of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft wants to secure popular video games such as ‘Call of Duty’ for its Game Pass subscription. At the same time, you would get high-grossing mobile games like “Candy Crush,” which are owned by Activision.

An initial fear of competition watchdogs was that the company would only offer the games on its Xbox console and its own cloud service. During the course of the investigations, the company promised to make the games available for ten years for other consoles such as Sony’s Playstation or Nintendo’s Switch, as well as for cloud platforms from other providers. After that, a new deal would have to be negotiated.

(oli/sda/awp/dpa)