- Microsoft, the company behind Xbox, successfully completed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard on Friday. This acquisition significantly enhances Microsoft's presence in the video gaming market, adding popular titles such as "Call of Duty" to its portfolio and positioning it to better compete with the industry leader, Sony.
- The United Kingdom finally granted approval for Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, earlier in the day, after requiring the Xbox owner to divest the streaming rights in response to competition concerns. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had initially blocked the deal in April, expressing concerns that it could grant the U.S. tech giant excessive control over the emerging cloud gaming sector.
Why it matters
However, the regulator took an unusual step by revisiting the case after Microsoft agreed to sell the streaming rights for Activision's games to Ubisoft Entertainment and implemented measures to ensure the enforceability of these terms. Microsoft had announced this acquisition in early 2022 with the goal of strengthening its presence in console, mobile, PC, and cloud gaming to compete not only with industry peers like Tencent but also with Sony, the owner of PlayStation.
