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Microsoft and its deal to buy Activision Blizzard didn’t go over well with the UK’s CMA at first. And it was that block of the acquisition that caused Microsoft to go back to the drawing board and restructure the deal to meet the CMA’s standards. Initially, Microsoft’s President Brad Smith and other employees from both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard weren’t too pleased with the CMA’s decision.
Smith noted that the CMA blocking the deal before the restructuring was a “dark day” for the company within the UK. But fast forward to now, Smith has changed his tune a bit. The CMA has now approved the acquisition and Microsoft has been free to go ahead with its plans. Following this more favorable result has gotten Smith to rethink his stance on the UK regulator.
Smith recently spoke with BBC Radio 4 in an interview and said the CMA was “tough but fair.” However, although Smith has a slightly different outlook on the whole thing now, he isn’t changing his stance entirely. Speaking to BBC Radio 4 he said “I wouldn’t step back necessarily from all of the concerns I raised when I talked way back in April, but I might choose slightly different words to make my point.”
Microsoft was forced to change its Activision deal to appease the CMA
Realistically, the need to restructure the deal was about the consumer. At least in the CMA’s eyes. When it was initially blocked, the CMA’s concern was over cloud gaming. Approving the deal could have meant things being worse off for the consumer. Because Microsoft would have had the ability to lock Activision Blizzard games to its own Xbox Game Pass service. Microsoft responded by selling those rights to Ubisoft. It also made deals with NVIDIA to bring Xbox and Activision games to GeForce NOW.
And just this past month we saw the first of those Activision titles make an appearance with Call of Duty. Even before any titles made their way to Game Pass. These kinds of changes gave the CMA the confidence it needed to approve the acquisition. However, the regulator states Microsoft didn’t go about things the right way. Saying that Microsoft dragged out proceedings and “wasted time and money” in the process.