Microsoft’s revised proposal to buy Call of Duty-maker Activision Blizzard has been approved by UK regulators.
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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it’s okay with Microsoft’s plan to buy Activision. Before this, the CMA didn’t like the idea and stopped it when Microsoft offered $69 billion in April. Now, the CMA says it’s fine. This ends almost two years of fighting to make this big takeover happen.
But, even though they said okay, the CMA didn’t like how Microsoft acted. They said Microsoft could have changed things when they first checked, but they kept asking for things that the CMA said wouldn’t work. This just wasted time and money.
Now, Microsoft will let a company called Ubisoft stream Activision’s games on consoles and computers over the internet. The CMA thinks this is good because it will keep game prices fair and give players more choices.
Before this, Microsoft couldn’t finish the deal all over the world. Some countries’ regulators didn’t like it, but others did. The US regulator tried to stop it, but the courts said no.
The CMA’s leader, Ms. Cardell, said by letting Ubisoft stream Activision’s games, they make sure Microsoft can’t control this important and fast-growing market.
The last obstacle has been cleared Activision
Mr. Smith from Microsoft said they’re thankful for the CMA’s careful review and decision. This is the last rule they had to follow before they can finish the deal. Activision Blizzard’s spokesperson said it’s great news.
In the new agreement, Microsoft will let Ubisoft stream Activision games from the internet for 15 years in places outside of the European Economic Area. This includes EU countries and some other places.
Microsoft hopes this takeover will make more people want to buy their Xbox and use their Xbox Game Pass service, where you pay a fee to play games from the internet.
With this deal, Microsoft also gets a studio that makes mobile games, like Candy Crush. It’s a big change in the game industry, and it makes Microsoft even stronger in games. Sony, which owns the PlayStation, doesn’t like this because it’s worried big games like Call of Duty might become only for Xbox.
Sony also buys game studios, but Activision Blizzard is a really big one. Microsoft knows this.
Before the CMA said okay, Microsoft and Activision said the UK should be a good place for tech businesses. The CMA disagreed and said the deal would hurt competition and gamers in the UK. They were ready to go to court, but Microsoft made a big change in the deal.”
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) mentioned that the new agreement will prevent Microsoft from dominating the growing cloud gaming market, ensuring fair prices and services for UK cloud gaming users. Microsoft revealed the largest gaming deal ever in early 2022, but the UK’s competition regulator blocked the $69 billion acquisition in April. They were worried that the American tech giant would have too much influence in the emerging cloud gaming industry.
