The British antitrust regulator on Friday approved Microsoft’s acquisition of “Call of Duty” creator Activision Blizzard after the reworked agreement resolved its initial concerns.
Activision and Ubisoft Entertainment reached a streaming rights deal in August, and Microsoft last month gave remedies to make sure the deal’s conditions could be enforced by the regulator, allaying some lingering concerns.
After extending the deadline by three months in July to obtain UK permission, the approval now allows Microsoft to complete the transaction by October 18.
The Competition and Markets Authority called Microsoft’s streaming concession a “game-changer” and noted that it was the first international competition agency to achieve this result.
“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.
Early in 2022, Microsoft revealed the largest gaming deal in history. However, the CMA denied the $69 billion acquisition in April because it feared Microsoft would have too much power over the burgeoning cloud gaming business.
Microsoft expressed its “gratitude for the CMA’s careful consideration and decision.”
