In the new proposal, Microsoft would not get Activision Blizzard’s cloud gaming rights in a wholesale deal, but they would be sold to the French Ubisoft.
A technology giant Microsoft has submitted a new proposal to try to get UK competition authorities to approve its plan to buy gaming company Activision Blizzard.
According to the new plan, the rights to stream Activision Blizzard’s games would be permanently sold to France’s Ubisoft. According to a blog post published by Microsoft, the agreement would apply to all Activision Blizzard’s current games and those to be published in the next 15 years.
According to a press release from the British Competition Authority (CMA), if the deal is completed, Ubisoft could supply Activision Blizzard’s game content with different business models to all companies in the field that offer cloud game services – including Microsoft.
According to the CMA, in the future, Ubisoft could also require Microsoft to offer versions of the games for operating systems other than Windows.
Microsoft’s according to the proposal significantly changes the originally presented business transaction, which the British authorities have not wanted to accept. The agreement with Ubisoft would enter into force when the acquisition is completed.
“With the reorganized deal, Microsoft will not be in a position where it can publish Activision Blizzard’s games exclusively in its own cloud game service or control the licensing terms of Activision Blizzard’s games to competing services”, the company’s second director Brad Smith write on the company’s website.
The agreement with Ubisoft does not apply to the European Economic Area, as the EU competition authorities have already approved the acquisition in its previous form.
According to the Reuters news agency, instead of exclusive rights in Europe, Ubisoft will receive a license for the cloud or streaming rights of Activision Blizzard’s games. Thus, Ubisoft is able to offer Activision Blizzard’s games on its platform in Europe as well.
Competition authorities emphasize in their press release that the new presentation does not necessarily mean approval of the deal. Director of CMA Sarah Cardell emphasizes in the announcement that the authorities will next investigate the potential effects of the latest version of the acquisition on competition.
Partner of law firm Geradin Partners Tom Smith tells Reuters that the giant acquisition now appears to be going through.
“The process has been painful, and it is still possible that the deal will fail. But we shouldn’t expect the deals of large technology companies to go through today,” Smith told the news agency.
Microsoft says it expects the CMA to make a decision on the fate of the $69 billion acquisition within the time limits of the agreement between it and Activision Blizzard by October 18. The companies have already extended the deadline of their contract once due to the prolongation of the permit process.
The originally planned acquisition was announced in January 2022.
The giant store in the gaming industry was approved in the EU and China, but the authorities in the United States and Britain have resisted. Britain’s CMA is reportedly the last obstacle in the way of trade, as a US court in July blocked the country’s competition authority, the FTC, from blocking the company’s trade.
Activision Blizzard is known, among other things, for games Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush and Overwatch as a developer.