This summer will be hot, at least for Microsoft and Activision! And that’s not due to climate change, but to the 69 billion deal for which Microsoft wants to take over the game developer behind Call of Duty, Overwatch and Co. For months, a real war has been raging between various supervisory authorities and the Redmond-based company. Not only do some fear Microsoft’s monopoly position should the deal go through. The still young streaming market, which is mainly dominated by the Game Pass, is also seen as being in danger. In the meantime, many authorities have waved the deal through, most recently the Chinese. But one country continues to stand in the way: Great Britain. Activision Blizzard is now threatening to pull out of the country entirely. You can find out here what that means and the consequences it would have!
Microsoft could ban Activision entirely from the UK
After China had agreed to the deal a few days ago and the European Union, for example, also saw no problem in it, subject to conditions, only Great Britain resisted the takeover. According to Bloomberg, however, Microsoft is now considering whether to completely remove Activision from the UK market in order to circumvent the decision of the “Competition and Markets Authority” (CMA).
The report reveals that Microsoft President Brad Smith plans to meet with UK Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt next week to “express his frustration at the CMA’s blocking of the deal.” Although Smith is reportedly traveling to the UK officially for other reasons, Microsoft confirmed he will also be in London for private discussions on various issues, including “the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, as we remain committed to finding creative and constructive ways to… address remaining regulatory concerns”.
Is the Microsoft Activision deal going through now?
Smith has previously criticized the CMA’s veto over the acquisition, going so far as to say at a recent investor conference that the CMA needs to know its “broad responsibilities.” According to Bloomberg, some senior officials and even ministers in the UK would not be happy with Smith’s comments, who also stressed that the EU would be “a better place than England to do business”.
Smith would be meeting with officials at Microsoft next week to work out a strategy to somehow get the deal through. In extreme cases, a complete withdrawal from Great Britain would also be considered. In theory, Microsoft could circumvent England’s legislation by moving Activision’s operations to another European country and then working with third parties to still continue selling games and other things in the UK.
Also popular with PC games readers
Kotick: “It’s the unions’ fault that Activision-Blizzard is doing badly!”
Activision Blizzard CEO denies a culture of bullying and blames unions for the company’s problems. 
China approves Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard
Microsoft has cleared the next hurdle in acquiring Activision Blizzard. The deal was also officially waved through in China.
Microsoft’s appeal against the UK Competition Authority’s decision to block its acquisition of Activision Blizzard will go to court in July. More than 40 countries have now approved the deal, most recently the EU and South Korea. We will of course keep you up to date on how Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard is progressing. The CEO of Activision, for example, only recently attracted attention with very questionable statements.
