The British competition authority, the CMA, announced on Friday September 22 that it was giving provisional authorization to Microsoft’s new takeover agreement with Activision Blizzard, publisher of the video game Call of Duty. The CMA noted in a statement “limited residual concerns” over the merger, for which Microsoft “has proposed solutions”. The competition watchdog concludes “provisionally that these additional protections should resolve the remaining concerns”. He also announced that he had opened a consultation until October 6 on the changes proposed by the American software giant.
Microsoft submitted an amended version of its proposed takeover of the American video game publisher to the British authority a month ago, finally hoping for approval after a refusal in April. The software titan planned, among other things, in the new version of its $69 billion takeover project, notable sales of Activision Blizzard’s online gaming rights, including the global successes Call of Duty and Candy Crush, which will be sold to French Ubisoft.
The CMA, which blocked the operation at the end of April, feared that it would reduce competition too much in the dematerialized games market and opened a preliminary investigation into Microsoft’s new copy.