Microsoft is reportedly set to close its deal to buy Activision Blizzard as soon as next week. People familiar with the deal have told The Verge that the company is planning to finalize things on or by Friday, October 13. Doing so would be ahead of the new deadline that was agreed upon by Microsoft and the CMA, which is October 18.
The CMA also has until the end of today to gather input and opinions about the deal. Before submitting a final decision next week. Microsoft has been held up by regulatory red tape with this acquisition for nearly two years. And finalizing the deal to buy the Call of Duty maker would allow Microsoft to finally be done with what has been a very long and surely tedious process.
Initially, the CMA blocked Microsoft’s deal citing cloud gaming concerns. So Microsoft went back to the drawing board and came up with a new set of terms. It then presented those new terms to the CMA last month. Since then the CMA has reviewed them and said its concerns have seemingly been addressed. Noting that it would make a decision by the middle of October.
It’s looking likely that Microsoft will close its Activision Blizzard deal
There’s really not much standing in Microsoft’s way now. And as long as the CMA doesn’t find any other glaring issues, this is basically a done deal. The $68.7 billion deal has been a struggle for Microsoft from the start. With regulators and rivals opposing the acquisition at what seemed like every turn. Most notably the deal was opposed by Sony and was blocked by the FTC in the US.
Following a potentially successful acquisition, Microsoft is set to hand over the cloud gaming rights of Activision Blizzard’s games to Ubisoft. Who can then license them out to competitors.