Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard clears the final hurdle. The British competition regulator gave the green light this Friday to the operation after the transfers made by the technology giant. Thus, it clears the way for the acquisition for 69,000 million dollars, about 65,000 million euros at the current exchange rate, the largest in history in the sector, to be completed. Sagas like Call of Duty or Candy Crush will change owners.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepts the restructured offer, since the first raised doubts due to the concentration of competition in cloud gaming: it was feared that Microsoft would limit cloud gaming outputs, so was rejected in April. With the new scheme, Microsoft will sell the French company Ubisoft the streaming rights outside the European Economic Area for current games and games released in the next 15 years. London considers it sufficient to preserve price competition and good services.
In this way, Ubisoft will be able to license Activision content under different business models, including subscription services, in addition to providing the French company with the ability to require Microsoft to offer versions of games on operating systems other than Windows or Xbox.
"We have cleared the final regulatory hurdle to close this acquisition, which we believe will benefit gamers and the gaming industry around the world," said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft. If the operation was not closed before October 18, the company had to pay 4.5 billion dollars to Activision as compensation, about 4.27 billion euros.
Announced in early 2022, the deal has been in limbo for months as it ran into concerns from several global antitrust regulators, including the UK's initial veto or doubts in the US. However, it gained unexpected momentum after that Microsoft won the legal challenge presented by the American Federal Trade Commission to stop the agreement and review it. The European Union approved it with qualifications in May and up to 40 countries did the same. That left the CMA as the only regulator standing in the way of the deal.
"The approval is great news for our future with Microsoft, and we look forward to being part of the Xbox (Microsoft console) team," said an Activision spokesperson.
