UK's CMA greenlights Microsoft mega acquisition deal of Activision but without cloud gaming

In January 2022, Microsoft announced that it would be acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in the largest gaming deal in history. 

The deal was met with scrutiny from regulators around the world, who were concerned about the potential impact on competition in the gaming industry.

Today, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the new deal for Microsoft to buy Activision without cloud gaming rights — one of the regulators that have been on the opposing side of the acquisition for quite some time.

This comes after Microsoft made a concession in August to sell Activision’s cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft instead of Microsoft.

“The CMA is resolute in its determination to prevent mergers that harm competition and deliver bad outcomes for consumers and businesses. We take our decisions free from political influence and we won’t be swayed by corporate lobbying,” says CMA’s Chief Executive, Sarah Cardell, in a statement.

The CMA concluded that the new deal would preserve competitive prices and better services for UK cloud gamers.

In recent months, Microsoft has been trying to convince regulators about the Activision Blizzard acquisition. They’d signed multiple binding deals with providers like Nintendo and Nvidia to make its games available on their platforms, lasting at least for 10 years.