UK Boosts Microsoft’s $69 Billion Activision Deal

UK Boosts Microsoft’s $69 Billion Activision Deal

Friday saw success for Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition attempt for American video game titan Activision Blizzard as Britain’s competition authority focused its investigation on cloud gaming.

Xbox-owner With the acquisition of Activision, maker of the popular games “Candy Crush” and “Call of Duty,” Microsoft began last year its effort to become the third-largest gaming firm in the world by revenue. This move raised antitrust worries in Europe.

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The acquisition could harm competition in gaming consoles and the cloud, according to preliminary conclusions released last month by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Nevertheless, citing fresh data from a consultation with interested parties, it stated on Friday that the “acquisition will not result in a major decrease of competition in regard to console gaming in the UK.”

The CMA’s probe will henceforth now only concentrate on cloud gaming.

An earlier CMA research made the assumption that Microsoft would work to eliminate “Call of Duty” off Sony’s PlayStation in favor of the Xbox gaming platform.

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However, the CMA has recently stated that “under any conceivable scenario, this method would be severely loss-making.”

Microsoft welcomed the information and promised to cooperate with authorities to address any unresolved issues.

Before the Friday update, Sony asked the CMA to halt the deal because it may allow Microsoft to “foreclose its rivals” from the Call of Duty series.

By April 26, the UK regulator must deliver its final report.

The announcement on Friday comes a week after Microsoft formally committed to the European Union in an effort to convince the bloc to approve the deal.

Source AFP