Microsoft is preparing to complete its proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard next week. As confirmed in a report by The Verge, a source informed the publication that Microsoft were looking to finalise the acquisition by Friday, 13, 2023, one week today.
The CMA has one more day (ending October 6) to collate arguments on whether the regulator should approve the acquisition of Activision – before a final decision can be delivered. An agreement on the merger would come five days ahead of schedule after Microsoft and Activision agreed in July to halt discussions until October 18, 2023. Phil Spencer tweeted he felt “optimistic” about completing the deal.
An eventual deal would end twenty months of uncertainty and prolonged deliberations. The acquisition will need the approval from the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority), the UK regulator who previously blocked Microsoft’s deal earlier in the year.
“Microsoft has a strong position in cloud gaming services and the evidence available to the CMA showed that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service,” the CMA said.
Microsoft reconfigured the deal – giving cloud gaming rights for any current and new Activision Blizzard titles into the hands of Ubisoft – which in turn secured provisional clearance from the CMA in September. Xbox chief Phil Spencer hailed it as “a positive development and a welcome indicator that our hard work is bringing us closer to our goal.”
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