While Microsoft and Activision have agreed to extend the acquisition by a few months, Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) laid out Microsoft’s case for the review on Friday.
Microsoft is revising its takeover bid for the CMA for quick review
Microsoft is reluctant to use force once and for all and continues to await UK regulatory approval to complete its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King for nearly $70 billion. The CMA agreed to wait a little longer for Microsoft to come up with a new solution.
As a reminder, the Competition Authority has ruled that competition in the console world is not at risk. Rather, it’s a potential Microsoft monopoly in cloud gaming that’s holding back the CMA, and that’s what has led to Microsoft’s takeover bid being rejected so far. As a result, we learned in mid-July that Microsoft might divest itself of Cloud Gaming to finalize the deal to buy Activision in the UK.
The American company is currently preparing a new offer for the CMA. According to Portal, the CMA said it could likely come up with a new draft opinion on the restructured deal in the week beginning Aug. 7, about two weeks from now.
To explain why the deal should now be given the green light, Microsoft argued that binding commitments made by the European Union shortly after Britain blocked the deal represented a game-changer, released court documents show. The software giant has made legally binding commitments to European regulators that will allow Activision’s games to stream for at least a decade post-merger.
The UK Competition Court of Appeal granted the adjournment provisionally on Monday, subject to further input from the parties. He officially granted it last Friday, so Microsoft and the CMA will soon be able to officially present new conclusions on the takeover.
On July 16, Microsoft announced that it had reached an agreement with PlayStation that will see Call of Duty continue to be released on PlayStation for at least ten years. Subsequently, Xbox representatives confirmed that the deal only affected the Call of Duty license and no others in the Activision Blizzard King catalog.