Video Games

CMA and Microsoft call a truce, reportedly reach a compromise

It looks like Microsoft has the Activision Blizzard deal in the bag

Marco Wutz

CMA and Microsoft call a truce, reportedly reach a compromise
CMA and Microsoft call a truce, reportedly reach a compromise /

Things are moving pretty quickly now that a court has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) preliminary injunction against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Soon after the ruling became public, the UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA), which had not approved the takeover in its own investigation and was getting ready to fight Microsoft’s appeal of that decision, jointly with Microsoft announced a truce to negotiate a compromise.

Microsoft’s Brad Smith said in a statement confirmed by the CMA: “After today’s court decision in the U.S., our focus now turns back to the UK. While we ultimately disagree with the CMA’s concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA. In order to prioritize work on these proposals, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of the litigation in the UK would be in the public interest and the parties have made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to this effect.”

With yesterday’s ruling in the US, the CMA found itself in an isolated and increasingly weak spot in regards to the acquisition, since every other big regulating body such as the European Union had approved the deal. From that perspective, it’s probably sensible for the CMA to negotiate and get some sort of compromise out of it.

As for what that compromise will entail, CNBC has obtained hints that Microsoft and the CMA may already have come to an agreement about Microsoft making a “small divestiture” to obtain approval of the deal. With the CMA’s focus being heavily on cloud gaming throughout the initial investigation, it’s possible that the regulator is looking for a compromise in this area, but this is not confirmed in any way.

Since a deal seems close or may already be in the bag, we may see Microsoft and Activision Blizzard proceed with the acquisition quickly.

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Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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