We are certainly in the end game now.
Tom Warren at The Verge is reporting that sources close to Microsoft’s $68.7 Billion deal to purchase Activision Blizzard, have informed them that Microsoft is eying up Friday the 13th to finally close the deal. This would be in time for Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s extended deal deadline of October 18th 2023.
Microsoft is planning to finalize its $68.7 billion proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard next week. A source familiar with Microsoft’s plans tells The Verge that the company is eyeing up Friday October 13th as the closing date where it announces to the world that the 20-month process to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard is over.
Tom Warren – The Verge
Microsoft is of course still awaiting a final decision from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on whether they will finally approve the deal, after blocking Microsoft’s initial proposal earlier this year, due to concerns around cloud gaming.
Microsoft submitted a revised deal to the CMA which aimed to address the CMA’s cloud gaming concern, a deal that we see Microsoft enter into a partnership with Ubisoft that will see Ubisoft purchase the cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard titles from Microsoft, for a period of 15 years. A move that would see Ubisoft control which cloud gaming services could have access to ABK titles.
The CMA provisionally approved this new and restructured deal and set a deadline of today, October 6th 2023, to gather opinions on whether they should sanction the deal. It is expected that the CMA will make their final decision next week.
The CMA was the last real hurdle in Microsoft’s way in order to get this deal over the line, they had previously won the support of the EU and also defeated the FTC in court so that they could no longer stand in the way of the deal.
If the CMA does rubber stamp the deal next week and Microsoft does move swiftly to close this deal, it will bring an end to a 20-month saga that could very easily be turned one day into a hit Television drama!
Of course, if there is more big news on this next, or before, Cloud Dosage will keep you up to date.
Source – The Verge
