The UK’s Competition And Markets Authority Is One Step Closer To Approving The Microsoft Activision Deal

It’s been a month since Microsoft addressed some of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s concerns about their control over cloud gaming should the Activision Blizzard purchase go through by agreeing to have Ubisoft buy that portion of the company. The agency has taken its time looking over the revised deal and raised a few more concerns about Microsoft’s ability to circumvent the sale of streaming rights to Ubisoft later on.

Today, they published a post on the Gov.UK site stating that Microsoft has addressed those concerns by “offering remedies to ensure that the sale of Activision’s rights to Ubisoft are enforceable by the CMA”.

With these changes made, the organization has “provisionally concluded” that the concerns have been addressed. That means we’re one step closer to having the deal approved in the UK. That said, it’s not a done deal, yet. Currently, they’ve “opened a consultation” that will end on October 6.

The CMA’s CEO, Sarah Cardell, published a statement as part of the post. The statement notes that the CMA has been adamant the deal could only go through “if competition, innovation, and choice in cloud gaming was preserved” and that Microsoft has “substantially restructured the deal” to address those concerns. The statement also notes that Microsoft could have saved everyone a lot of headaches if they’d just done this earlier on.

”It would have been far better, though, if Microsoft had put forward this restructure during our original investigation. This case illustrates the costs, uncertainty, and delay that parties can incur if a credible and effective remedy option exists but is not put on the table at the right time.”

Activision Blizzard also made a statement following the CMA’s announcement, stating, “The CMA’s preliminary approval is great news for our future with Microsoft. We’re pleased the CMA has responded positively to the solutions Microsoft has proposed, and we look forward to working with Microsoft toward completing the regulatory review process.”