US software giant Microsoft has submitted an amended takeover plan for US video game maker Activision Blizzard to the UK Competition Authority (CMA), blocking the original version of the deal.
In particular, Microsoft is planning significant sales of online gaming rights, which will be sold to the French Ubisoft.
In a press release issued Tuesday, the CMA says it has “opened a new Phase 1 investigation into a Microsoft-restructured agreement to purchase Activision.”
Additionally, the CMA has “completed its decision to block the merger” of Origin, a $69 billion operation that will create the third-biggest player in the industry in terms of revenue after China’s Tencent and Sony should.
“Under the new agreement, Microsoft will not buy the streaming rights for any of Activision’s existing games,” nor for “games that will air over the next 15 years (except in the EEA ). area),” adds the CMA.
“These rights will be sold to Ubisoft,” a rival French publisher, ahead of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, the UK Competition Authority said.
The latter will thus have the right to sell licenses for Activision content to “any dematerialized games provider”.
“This will allow gamers to access Activision games in different ways,” said CMA CEO Sarah Cardell, who said reviewing the new version was “not a green light.”
“Our objective has not changed, which is that any future decision on this new wording of the agreement must ensure that the growing online gaming market continues to benefit from competition that fosters choice and innovation,” she argues.
High probability
The new deadline for a decision in the investigation is October 18, she adds.
On April 26, the CMA cited risks that were too high for the competition by blocking this mega-merger.
Microsoft had challenged this decision, which had to be taken to court, but Microsoft and the CMA finally agreed in early July to stay the court case and find common ground, which had to be done through new proposals from the American group.
For its part, the American competition authority FTC suspended the administrative court proceedings it had initiated in December against the takeover of Activision Blizzard originally planned by Microsoft, thereby confirming its withdrawal after a series of legal setbacks.
The European Commission, for its part, approved this acquisition in May.
“This may mean another lengthy process for those involved (…), but in reality it is unlikely that Microsoft would have tackled this new offering without having a high degree of certainty that it would ultimately bear the white seal of the CMA is obtained,” he notes Alex Haffner of the Fladgate law firm.