Report: Microsoft Expects the UK to Oppose Activision Blizzard Deal - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 February 2023 / 11,209 Views
Microsoft is reportedly expecting UK regulators, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), to oppose its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, according to report from The New York Times.
"Microsoft’s legal team also expects the antitrust authority in Britain to oppose the transaction," reads the report.
European Union regulators have issued a formal antitrust warning to Microsoft over its Activision Blizzard acquisition, however, Microsoft is committed to "finding a path forward" and is "confident" it will be address the concerns from the European Union regulators.
Microsoft is hoping it will be able to also convince the UK regulators to accept its concessions and approve the acquisition.
Even if Microsoft is able to get the European Union and UK regulators to approve the deal, an approval is still needed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US. The FTC in December announced it was looking to sue to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard as it would give Microsoft the ability to suppress its competitors in gaming.
Chile's regulatory authority, the Fiscalia Nacional Economica, in December 2022 released its ruling on Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition and has voted to approve the deal in Phase 1. The acquisition has also been confirmed to have been approved in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia unconditionally.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Man, considering that Activision would likely be able to be bought for less money today than Microsoft has committed to paying (considering how the stock market has treated tech companies lately), and all the pushback that they're getting, it wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft stops pushing hard to make this deal happen and just lets it be blocked.
We may not be quite at that point yet. But, I think we've got to be getting close.
This whole deal's turned into a headache. -_-
I heard one lawyer saying that MS can win this case but a big question will be how far are they willing to go? It's going to cost them a lot of money and in the end they might not even win. So the longer and longer this goes the higher the chances are that MS just gives up.
But without MS buying Activision how do we get rid of Bobby Kotick? -_-
Curious - what happens if it’s approved in some regions but not all?
I know with Facebook Giphy that the U.K. forced the sale even though the us was ok with it but that was a small purchase. This is much larger.
I was just wondering the same. Anyone have any insight?
Dude this is good. without this and CoD Sony be up shit street, block it block it!!!.
Interesting development.
If the government of the USA is opposed it's only natural that the UK is too.
I mean we saw that since the Brexit the British only take bad decisions
I'm pretty sure Brexit was approved by 17 million people, This is going to be decided by a handful.
Seems like USA and EU are doing the same.
