Britain blocks Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard

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LONDON — Britain's top competition regulator on Wednesday moved to blockMicrosoft's acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard.

The measure marks a major blow for the U.S. tech giant, as it seeks to convince authorities that the deal will benefit competition.

Microsoft said it plans to appeal the decision.

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said that it opposed the deal as it raises competition concerns in the nascent cloud gaming market.

Microsoft could make Activision's games exclusive to its cloud gaming platform, Xbox Game Pass, cuting off distribution to other key players in the space, the CMA said.

Cloud gaming is a technology that enables gamers to access games via companies' remote servers — effectively streaming a game like you would a movie on Netflix. The technology is still in its infancy, but Microsoft is betting big on it becoming a mainstream way of playing games.

Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard in January 2022 for $69 billion, in one of the biggest deals the video game industry has seen to date.

Executives at the Redmond, Washington-based technology giant believe the acquisition will boost its efforts in gaming by adding lucrative franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush Saga to its content offerings.

However, some of Microsoft's competitors contested the deal, concerned it may give Microsoft a tight grip on the $200 billion games market. Of particular concern was the prospect that Microsoft may shut off distribution access to Activision's popular Call of Duty franchise for certain platforms.

Sony, in particular, has voiced concern with Microsoft's Activision purchase. The Japanese gaming giant fears that Microsoft could make Call