Microsoft one step closer to $69 billion purchase of Activision

Microsoft is one step closer to purchasing Activision in a blockbuster $69 billion deal. On Friday, Sept. 22, U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced the sale of Activision by Microsoft has preliminary approval pending third-party consultation and a final decision.

This comes after the CMA rejected a deal proposed by Microsoft over concerns that “the deal would harm competition in cloud gaming in the U.K.” Microsoft returned to the drawing board and submitted a new deal for the CMA to review in August 2023.

“The CMA considers that the restructured deal makes important changes that substantially address the concerns it set out in relation to the original transaction earlier this year,” the release read.

In the new deal, Microsoft will not purchase cloud gaming rights for Activision games. Instead, the cloud rights will be sold to third-party, Ubisoft Entertainment SA. The reason for this, according to the CMA, is to keep Microsoft from limiting access to Activision’s games or keep them from rivals.

“The prior sale of the cloud gaming rights will establish Ubisoft as a key supplier of content to cloud gaming services, replicating the role that Activision would have played in the market as an independent player,” the release read.

Now, CMA has sent the newly structured proposal to a third party for consultation and is expected to make a decision ahead of the Oct. 18 deadline.

Microsoft’s vice chair and president said on X that the company is encouraged by the latest news from the CMA.

The deal, announced in January 2022, received a lot of pushback from antitrust advocates globally. In July 2023, a U.S. federal judge ruled in favor of the deal following the European Union’s decision in May 2023.