Microsoft is ready and able to appease the UK's competition regulator.
The tech giant has recently announced it is restructuring its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard to garner the approval of the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The CMA is the only regulator left opposing Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard after US Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley rejected the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent it.
Meeting Halfway
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said in a Microsoft blog post that it is restructuring the acquisition deal it made with Activision Blizzard to satisfy the CMA's concerns with it.
You may recall that the CMA previously stated in late April that it is forbidding Microsoft from pursuing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard at the time because of the problematic solutions Microsoft provided.
The CMA said that Microsoft's solutions had significant shortcomings and would require mandatory oversight from the watchdog itself. It also added that Microsoft's acquisition deal with Activision Blizzard would reinforce Microsoft's advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content.
These gaming content include the Call of Duty franchise and Blizzard's Overwatch and World of Warcraft franchises.
As a compromise with the CMA, Smith said that its restructuring of the deal to "acquire a narrower set of rights." Specifically, Microsoft will transfer the cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft in perpetuity.
As a result, Microsoft will never be in a position to either release Activision Blizzard games exclusively on its Xbox Cloud Gaming service or exclusively control the licensing terms of Activision Blizzard games for rival services.
Ubisoft, in its own press statement, confirms its receipt of the cloud streaming rights Microsoft transferred to it. Thanks to it, subscribers to Ubisoft+ Multi Access can play their favorite Activision Blizzard games across multiple platforms (PC, Xbox consoles, Amazon Luna, PlayStation consoles).
Thanks to this restructuring Microsoft believes that its new acquisition deal with Activision Blizzard is a "substantially different transaction" under UK law than the one it submitted for review in 2022. The tech giant has already notified the CMA of the changes and is now anticipating its decision.
The new deal wouldn't affect Microsoft's obligations to the European Commission as EU regulators approved the acquisition deal between the tech giant and Activision Blizzard, per The Verge. A free license to consumers in EU countries allows them to stream all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games they have a license for using any cloud game streaming services they want.
CMA's Response
The CMA welcomes the restructuring Microsoft made to its acquisition deal with Activision Blizzard. However, this gesture doesn't mean that it is giving the tech giant the green light, according to CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell.
"Our goal has not changed - any future decision on this new deal will ensure that the growing cloud gaming market continues to benefit from open and effective competition driving innovation and choice," she added.
The CMA is expected to review the restructured deal over the coming and deliver a decision by Oct. 18.
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