Microsoft completes $69 billion Activision deal following approval from Britain
By MYBRANDBOOK
Microsoft completed the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The largest gaming merger, first announced in January 2022, cleared its final major barrier, an approval from Britain, after Microsoft agreed to sell streaming rights for Activision's titles to ease competition concerns.
The completion is a major win for the U.S. tech firm in its push to attract more people to its Xbox consoles and Game Pass subscription service. Microsoft's gaming revenue trails that of Sony, whose PlayStation consoles outsell the Xbox.
"Today is a good day to play," Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a post on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. He will oversee the Activision business, with the video-game publisher's CEO Bobby Kotick staying on until end-2023.
Activision makes popular mobile titles including "Candy Crush Saga" and "Call of Duty Mobile" - games that were excluded from the cloud streaming deal Microsoft signed with France's Ubisoft Entertainment to secure approval from Britain.
The deal was the biggest test of the CMA's global power to take on the tech giants since Britain left the European Union.
The regulator said "sticking to its guns" in the face of criticism from the merging companies had delivered an outcome that was better for competition, consumers and economic growth. Microsoft's concession on streaming was a "game changer", the CMA said, adding that it was the only competition agency globally to have delivered this outcome.
The CMA's block had drawn fury from the merging parties, with Microsoft saying that Britain was closed for business.
The British government only offered limited support to the CMA, with Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt saying that while he did not want to undermine its independence, regulators also needed to focus on encouraging investment.
CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said the regulator had "delivered a clear message to Microsoft that the deal would be blocked unless they comprehensively addressed our concerns and we stuck to our guns on that." The European Commision gave the green light in May when it accepted Microsoft's commitments to license Activision's games such as "Overwatch" and "World of Warcraft" to other platforms.
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