Microsoft has cleared the final hurdle to acquire Call of Duty maker Activision in a $69 billion deal.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company that produces Call of DutyThe $69 billion deal was given the green light on Friday, with final approval by Britain’s competition authority. This closed one of the largest deals in technology history.
CMA Approves Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Xbox owner Microsoft may complete the acquisition of Activision, known for its hit games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and Candy Crush, on Wednesday. This agreement was held up for almost two years due to inspections around the world.
Although the UK Competition and Markets Authority was initially hesitant due to concerns about damaging the developing competition in the cloud gaming market, it eliminated these concerns after Microsoft presented an innovative proposal.
“With the new agreement, the possibility of Microsoft restricting competition in the cloud gaming market has been prevented, and cloud gaming users in the UK are guaranteed competitive prices and service.” It was said.
“We are grateful for this decision and believe this agreement will have positive impacts for the global gaming community and the gaming industry,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith. said.
“We are excited to be a part of the Xbox family,” Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said. said.
According to Joshua Chapman, partner at venture capital firm Konvoy, players are positively affected by this deal.
“It builds efficiency and competitiveness across the gaming industry.” he said.
Since the beginning of 2022, Microsoft has passed competition inspections and received approval in more than 40 countries. In particular, it received approval from the 27-member European Union after the decision to allow royalty-free broadcasting for 10 years.
However, this agreement was criticized by British and American regulators over concerns of restricting competition. Sony, PlayStation’s biggest rival, was concerned about limiting access to Call of Duty.
You may be interested in: CMA’s Response to the EU
The US Federal Trade Commission rejected a proposal to halt the deal while it was in the process of reviewing it. The FTC has stated that it plans to appeal this decision and restart the process.
The auditing body in the UK was seen as the biggest obstacle in this process. In order to obtain this approval, Microsoft announced that it would sell some of Activision’s game rights to the French game company Ubisoft.
The regulator has been critical of some of Microsoft’s tactics and warned other companies to avoid such methods.
“Microsoft simply wasted time and resources by prolonging the process,” said Sarah Cardell, CEO of the regulator. said.
“The UK’s supervisory authority has taken the right step by imposing strict requirements on Microsoft,” said Max von Thun, European Director of the Open Markets Institute. said. However, “the CMA’s conduct in this process creates the impression that the institution is indecisive and ineffective.” he added.
“In the future, companies planning a merger may need to approach the CMA more decisively,” Von Thun said. ” he said.