Microsoft’s $69 Billion Activision Blizzard cleared by Britain

LONDON - Britain finally cleared Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)'s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) on Friday after it forced the Xbox owner to sell the steaming rights to games including "Call of Duty" to address its competition concerns.

The deal was blocked in April by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which said it could give the U.S. computing giant a stranglehold over the nascent cloud gaming market.

But the regulator ripped up its play book by reopening the case after Microsoft agreed to sell the streaming rights to Activision's games to Ubisoft Entertainment, with remedies to ensure the terms were enforceable.

The deal was the biggest test of the CMA's global power to take on the tech giants since Britain left the European Union.

It 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.

The approval paves the way for Microsoft to close the deal by Oct. 18 after it extended the deadline to secure UK approval.

The CMA said Microsoft's concession on streaming was a "gamechanger", adding that it was the only competition agency globally to have delivered this outcome. 
The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers," it said in a statement.

Microsoft announced the deal in early 2022, aiming to boost its growth in console, mobile, PC, and cloud gaming to compete with the likes of Tencent as well as PlayStation-owner Sony (NYSE:SONY).

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission opposed the deal but after failing to stop it, the CMA was left standing alone.