Britain’s antitrust regulator on Monday called for public responses on whether to allow Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard — the maker of the “Call of Duty” video game — ahead of a final decision by Aug. 29.
Microsoft says the deal, which the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked in April, must be reviewed in light of legally binding commitments to the European Commission and a licensing agreement with Sony.
The US software giant, in arguments published on Monday, said its deals with NVIDIA, Boosteroid and Ubitus to license Activision games for a decade after the acquisition had already improved competition in the cloud gaming market. The CMA said Microsoft believed there were material changes of circumstances and/or special reasons why the regulator should not make its final order to stop the deal.
Microsoft’s deal with Sony to keep “Call of Duty” on its PlayStation console for at least another decade was also significant in terms of the impact of the Activision deal and “addresses the main concern of the most outspoken opponent of the merger,” it said. Microsoft. The CMA urged anyone wishing to comment on the new version of Microsoft’s takeover to do so by August 4. The authority said it intended to make a final decision on the deal by August 29.