2023-08-22 09:35:49
Video games
Microsoft makes a deal with Ubisoft to unlock its takeover of Activision Blizzard
To achieve its ends in the United Kingdom, the American giant leaves it to the French publisher to manage the rights to stream viewing of all Activision games.
UpdatedAugust 22, 2023, 11:35 AM
Phil Spencer (left), head of the Xbox division, in June 2023, just before pleading Microsoft’s case in court. Since then, the American Competition Authority has ended up giving up wanting to block the takeover of Activision Blizzard.
Getty Images via AFP
US software giant Microsoft has submitted an amended takeover plan for US video game publisher Activision Blizzard to the UK Competition Authority (CMA), which blocked the original version of the deal.
Microsoft plans in particular to make significant sales of online gaming rights that will be sold to French Ubisoft. The CMA specifies “having opened a new phase 1 investigation into an agreement restructured by Microsoft to buy Activision”, in a press release published on Tuesday.
Separate streaming
In addition, the CMA “finalized its decision to block the merger” of origin, an operation which was valued at 69 billion dollars and was to give birth to the third player in the sector in terms of turnover, behind the Chinese Tencent and Sony. “As part of the new agreement, Microsoft will not buy streaming viewing rights (streaming, editor’s note) of all present Activision games” nor those of “games that will be broadcast for the next 15 years (except in the European economic area)”, adds the CMA.
“These rights will be sold to Ubisoft”, a competing French publisher, “before the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft”, continues the British competition authority. The latter will thus have the right to sell licenses on Activision content to “any supplier of dematerialized games”.
Not yet a green light
“This will allow players to access Activision games in different ways,” said Sarah Cardell, CEO of the CMA, who said that the review of the new version is “not a green light”. “Our objective has not changed, namely that any future decision on this new wording of the agreement must ensure that the growing market for online games will continue to benefit from competition that promotes choice and innovation,” she argues.
The new deadline for a decision on the preliminary investigation is October 18, she adds.
The CMA invoked on April 26, by blocking this mega-merger, risks that were too high for the competition. Microsoft had challenged this decision, which had to be brought to justice, but Microsoft and the CMA had finally agreed in early July to suspend the legal proceedings and find common ground, which was to go through new proposals from the American group.
Redemption unlocked everywhere else
The American competition authority, the FTC, for its part suspended in July its own blocking procedure before the administrative justice that it had initiated in December against the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, backing down after a series legal setbacks.
The European Commission for its part approved this takeover in May.
“It is unlikely that Microsoft would have embarked on this new offering without a high degree of certainty that it will ultimately obtain CMA clearance,” notes Alex Haffner of the Fladgate law firm.
(AFP)Show comments
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