Microsoft and Activision make radical decision to achieve greater video game agreement

Activision Blizzarddeveloper of “Call of Duty,” will sell its streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment in a new bid to win approval from Britain’s antitrust watchdog to close its $69 billion sale to Microsoft.

Microsoft announced in early 2022 the biggest deal ever in the video game industry, but the acquisition was blocked by the UK’s competition watchdog, which feared the US computer giant would gain too much control of the fledgling gaming market. on the cloud.

After months of discussions, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) It said Tuesday that it was standing by its original decision to veto the deal, forcing Microsoft to submit new terms.

Under the restructured agreement, Microsoft you will not be able to publish Activision games like “Overwatch” and “Diablo” exclusively on your own service streaming in the cloud -Xbox Cloud Gaming- nor exclusively control the license conditions for rival services.

Instead, his French rival Ubisoft will acquire cloud streaming rights to Activision games for PC and consoles, as well as any new games it releases Activision in the next 15 years.

This will apply worldwide, but not in Europe, where Brussels had already accepted the original deal. In Europe, Ubisoft will obtain a non-exclusive license to the rights to Activision to be able to offer those games in that region as well.

EU antitrust regulators are examining whether the proposed Microsoft to get UK approval would affect its concessions to the European Commission, according to a spokesman.

The actions of Activision they rose 1% after the opening of the US market, while those of Microsoft gained 0.8%. Meanwhile, Ubisoft’s Paris-listed shares were up almost 10% at 1430 GMT.

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it believed its new proposal was “substantially different” and that he expected it to be reviewed by the CMA before October 18.

The CMA said it would review the new agreement under its usual system, with a phase 1 process ending on October 18. If it remains in doubt about the impact on competition, the CMA could open a much longer Phase 2 review.

The two US companies have already extended the term of the agreement – pushing it back three months, until October 18 – after the regulatory process dragged on longer than expected.