If anyone wants to delve deeper…
The CMA grants consent for Microsoft to acquire ABK (this was required due to the original deal being blocked):
The CMA accepts the remedies/undertakings offered by MS:
CMA getting kinda sassy…spicy, overdramatic?
The new deal for Microsoft to buy Activision without cloud gaming rights has been cleared after the CMA concluded it would preserve competitive prices and better services.
www.gov.uk
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA said:
The CMA is resolute in its determination to prevent mergers that harm competition and deliver bad outcomes for consumers and businesses.
We take our decisions free from political influence and we won't be swayed by corporate lobbying.
We delivered a clear message to Microsoft that the deal would be blocked unless they comprehensively addressed our concerns and stuck to our guns on that.
With the sale of Activision's cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, we've made sure Microsoft can't have a stranglehold over this important and rapidly developing market. As cloud gaming grows, this intervention will ensure people get more competitive prices, better services and more choice.
We are the only competition agency globally to have delivered this outcome.
But businesses and their advisors should be in no doubt that the tactics employed by Microsoft are no way to engage with the CMA.
Microsoft had the chance to restructure during our initial investigation but instead continued to insist on a package of measures that we told them simply wouldn't work. Dragging out proceedings in this way only wastes time and money.
Martin Coleman, Chair of the Independent Panel who reviewed the original Microsoft deal, said:
Cloud gaming is an important new way for gamers to access games and this deal could have seriously undermined its potential development.
On that we, the European Commission and the US Federal Trade Commission are in full agreement.
Where we differ is on how we solve that problem. We rejected a solution put to us by the parties which would have left Microsoft with too much control.
We now have a new transaction in which the cloud distribution of Activision games, old and new, is taken away from Microsoft and put into the hands of Ubisoft, an independent party who is committed to widening access to the games. That's better for competition, better for consumers and better for economic growth.