Microsoft is making a significant step towards acquiring Activision Blizzard by addressing concerns in the realm of cloud gaming.
On Friday, British regulators gave the newly restructured $75 billion deal a boost, provisionally accepting the tech giant's amendments to the takeover, per the Financial Times.
Previously, the deal had already been given a go-signal by EU and US regulators.
Why Is the Deal Taking So Long?
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) turned down the deal earlier this year, expressing worries over the protection of innovation and choices in cloud gaming.
To address these concerns, Microsoft reimagined the deal by proposing to sell the streaming rights of Activision games in Europe to Ubisoft, the publisher behind popular games like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry.
The new restructured deal received approval from the CMA as long as Activision's major titles such as Diablo, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft remained outside Microsoft's control, fostering competition and preventing a monopoly in the cloud gaming services.
Microsoft offered these solutions to "ensure that the terms of the sale of Activision's rights to Ubisoft are enforceable by the CMA."
While some remaining details are yet to be ironed out, the deal will likely be completed before the October 18 deadline.
Edited by Nikola Djuric
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