Game On: Microsoft Remains in the Ring for Activision Blizzard in the UK

Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is taking longer than necessary for many. Last month, the $69 billion acquisition of one of the industry’s largest video game companies suffered a huge setback when it was vetoed in the U.K. by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after claims that it would harm competition in cloud gaming.

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Shortly after learning of the UK antitrust authority’s decision, Microsoft CEO Brad Smith announced that the company would be appealing to the courts, and it has. This week, Microsoft filed an appeal against the CMA’s decision, which will soon be submitted to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).

Activision, which also did not see the UK authority’s decision coming, argued last month that this purchase veto was a sign that the UK was “clearly closed for business.” Microsoft, maker of the Xbox console, said the CMA’s decision “discourages technological innovation and investment” in the UK.

With this appeal, the Redmond company would at least have a chance to go ahead with the purchase process, which has been approved by the European authorities.

After an exhaustive scrutiny by the European Union, which involved experts in the field, consultations with third parties and a detailed analysis of the information provided by both Activision and Microsoft, the European institution eventually concluded that the agreement will not significantly harm competition in the video game market, and gave the green light for it to go ahead.

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The purchase process should be completed by July 18 of this year. In the event that it is not completed, Microsoft would have to compensate Activision with a whopping 3 billion dollars.

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