Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Deal Clears the Last Hurdle: UK Regulators Have Approved $68.7 Billion Proposed Acquisition of Call of Duty Publisher

Following a long wait of nearly two years, Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision has been approved by UK regulators. The Xbox maker and Activision have finally cleared the last remaining hurdle. In short, the deal is good to go!

With UK CMA’s green signal, the $68.7 billion merger is expected to close soon. Previous reports claimed that it may get sealed as early as October 13, on Friday. Now that the big news has been made public, the two firms involved in the giant deal will surely look to finish all the formalities.

Friday the 13th turns out to be lucky for the Microsoft-Activision deal!

The UK CMA shared an update on Friday while revealing that the deal has been cleared. However, it also stated that the approval was given after Microsoft’s restructured proposal to the regulators. The company had agreed to give cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft, for Activision’s games. Now, it’s only a matter of time before the Xbox maker and the publisher close the merger.

“The CMA has decided to give Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) consent to acquire Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision) (the Parties) excluding Activision’s cloud streaming rights outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) (the Merger) subject to the condition that the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights completes prior to completion of the Merger,” read the official statement from the CMA.

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What’s interesting to note is that regulators have described Microsoft’s concession as a ‘gamechanger’. One, that will eventually promote competition in the rapidly increasing cloud gaming market.

What’s next for Microsoft, Activision, and Call of Duty?

Now, everyone will be awaiting the official announcement regarding the finalization of this billion-dollar acquisition. Once the update is out, it implies that Call of Duty and other Activision IPs will move to Microsoft. In other words, the Xbox maker will own the first-person shooter franchise while also controlling the main decisions regarding all its future titles.

Following the news from the UK regulators, Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick also shared a message. “We’re excited for our next chapter together with Microsoft and the endless possibilities it creates for you and for our players”, he said. For the uninitiated, the proposed acquisition was originally announced in January 2022.

In the future, it will be interesting to see the changes brought by Microsoft. Especially, when it comes to Call of Duty and everything related to it. After all, it’s the biggest FPS IP in the world right now. It’s not hidden from anyone that the series generates revenue in billions of dollars every year. So far, many reports have indicated that Microsoft may make COD exclusive to Xbox.

However, the company hasn’t intended to do so, due to its commitment to offer the franchise to more gamers. It has already signed a 10-year deal with Sony to offer Call of Duty games on PlayStation consoles. A similar agreement has been made with Japanese gaming giant Nintendo as well.

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