Since the beginning of 2022, he has been seeking to acquire Activision Blizzard for – a trifle – $ 69 billion. If successful, it will be the largest transaction in the history of the industry. First, however, regulatory approvals from various countries are needed, including the UK, which is blocking the takeover due to suspicions that the transaction will reduce competition in the market. Currently, Microsoft is waiting for an appeal in this case to be considered. This week, the giant announced the steps back it is able to take to complete the merger.
Microsoft takes a step back to buy the gaming giant
“In order to address concerns about the impact of the proposed acquisition on cloud game streaming raised by the UK Competition and Markets Authority, we are restructuring the transaction to obtain a narrower set of rights,” Brad Smith, vice chairman and president of Microsoft, said on Monday. The changes in question assume that Microsoft will neither be able to host Activision Blizzard games solely on its own cloud streaming service (Cloud Gaming) nor solely control the licensing terms of Activision Blizzard games for competing services. Microsoft has agreed to transfer Activision’s game streaming rights from the cloud to the cloud for 15 years. This means that even after the takeover by Microsoft, the studio’s games will be available, for example on the Ubisoft+ platform. “The deal gives Ubisoft a unique opportunity to commercialize game distribution through cloud streaming,” it said in .
Is Microsoft’s torment over? “It’s not a green light”
found out that The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will review the new deal but caution it is “not a green light”. In addition, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission continues to try to block the deal in the U.S., though this has been overturned by the courts several times. The deadline for the CMA to make a decision is October 18 – without its approval, the transaction cannot be completed on a global scale. However, let us emphasize that the initial offer for Activision has already been approved in 40 countries, including China.
Microsoft wants to buy out Activision to add more titles to your Xbox Game Pass streaming service. In this way, they will come into possession of such titles as “Call of Duty”, “Overwatch” or “World of Warcraft”. The competition, and actually mainly the Sony company, to which the consoles belong, is afraid that after the merger, Microsoft will prevent access to Activision games for other consoles.
Source: Gazeta
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