UK antitrust officials have approved Microsoft’s planned takeover of Activision Blizzard, the maker of “Call of Duty” and other hit games, greenlighting one of the biggest tech deals of all time.
The Competition and Markets Authority announced Friday that the merger had been cleared after the companies agreed to give up certain cloud gaming rights, removing the final regulatory hurdle to the deal closing. The concession is “a game-changer” that will allow “competitive prices and better services,” the CMA said in a statement. Microsoft unveiled the deal in early 2022, but it was blocked in April by the UK competition regulator.
They proposed a restructured merger, which would allow Activision’s cloud streaming rights outside the European Union and three other European countries to be sold to a rival, Ubisoft Entertainment. That appeased the CMA, which signaled last month that it would most likely approve the reworked takeover. “The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming,” the agency said Friday.
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