The Competition and Markets Authority said it has until
Xbox maker Microsoft has been on a quest to acquire Activision, maker of the popular Call of Duty game franchise since announcing the
The companies have secured approvals from antitrust authorities covering 40 countries, including the
The blockbuster deal faced pushback in
The purchase is now only held up in
Under the restructured deal, Microsoft will sell cloud streaming rights outside of the European Economic Area for all current and new Activision games released over the next 15 years to French game studio
Activision CEO
In an unprecedented move, the
The CMA said Tuesday that it found those developments wouldn't have changed its original decision and imposed an order to block the deal. At the same time, it's considering the new Microsoft proposal, which “is substantially different from what was put on the table previously,” said
“This is not a green light," Cardell said. “We will carefully and objectively assess the details of the restructured deal and its impact on competition, including in light of third-party comments.”
The regulator's decision to launch a new investigation instead of approving the deal was an unexpected move and raises the prospect of another lengthy review, said
“In reality, however, it is hard to believe Microsoft would have taken this new course without a high degree of confidence it will now in due course (finally) get a regulatory green light from the CMA,” he said by email.
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