Microsoft-Activision restructured $69B deal pleases British regulators

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard cleared another hurdle in completing their $69 billion tie-up.

British regulators with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday said the move “opens the door” to the biggest-ever gaming deal getting done,

“The sale of Activision’s cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft substantially addresses previous concerns and opens the door to the deal being cleared” the CMA said in communication shared on X, formally Twitter. 

In August, the Call of Duty and Candy Crush maker agreed to sell its streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment for Activision’s existing PC and console games and any new games released by Activision in the next 15 years.

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Last month, after Microsoft restructured their purchase plan of the video game company, the two companies extended their merger deadline to Oct. 18.

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Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company was “encouraged by this positive development in the CMA’s review process.”

“We presented solutions that we believe fully address the CMA’s remaining concerns related to cloud game streaming, and we will continue to work toward earning approval to close prior to the October 18 deadline,” he said. 

While the European Union okayed the deal in May after hearing Microsoft’s commitments to license Activision’s games to other platforms, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission remains opposed to the deal but has failed in its attempts to stop it.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

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