Microsoft bid for Activision Blizzard blocked by UK competition regulator
The UK’s competition regulator has blocked Microsoft’s attempted takeover of Activision Blizzard, the developer behind hit video games such as Call of Duty, in what would have been the largest acquisition in gaming history.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) prevented the purchase with an all-cash offer of $68.7bn (£55bn) over concerns it would squash the cloud gaming market.
The tie-up would have created a gaming behemoth, merging Activision’s plethora of “AAA” titles, which also include World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Candy Crush Saga and Overwatch, with Microsoft’s burgeoning stable of first-party developers, its Xbox consoles and its control of PC gaming.
The CMA’s decision had seemed to be tilting in Microsoft’s favour after it announced earlier this month that it was content with the Seattle-based company’s promises to make Call of Duty available on other platforms for at least a decade. Those promises, the regulator said, preserved competition in the home console market, against protests from the PlayStation owner Sony.
More details soon…
Read more on theguardian.com
