Tough Game: Microsoft bending over backwards to woo UK to save its $75 billion Activision acquisition

Microsoft just made a fresh offer to take over Activision Blizzard. This is to woo UK regulators who have so far, blocked their initial proposal over grounds to regulate competition. This entire saga started in 022 when Microsoft tried to acquire Activision for a cool $69 billion. However, since then, Microsoft has been dealing with a bunch of red tape from regulators in the US, Europe, and the UK. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority or CMA officially said, that they had officially blocked the deal. Following this, Microsoft and Activision decided to make some amendments to the initial agreement. The CMA will now take a closer look at this revamped plan and arrive at a decision by October 18. Microsoft’s Brad Smith thinks they can wrap up the review even before that. The CMA’s concern The CMA has been really tough when it comes to this takeover, especially concerned about how it might mess with the competition in the up-and-coming cloud gaming scene. Cloud gaming has been considered to be the next big thing in gaming. The way cloud gaming works is that a publisher who develops the game also hosts the device upon which the game actually runs. They then offer a subscription to users, who can either download or play the game on their local device, like a console or PC, or, can stream the game, which will be running on a remote machine. Because of this, gamers who don’t have access to a console or a gaming PC, can still play the game on their TVs, or even their mobile phones. Cloud Gaming will also ensure cross-platform compatibility for a lot of games, including titles that are currently exclusive to certain platforms. UK’s regulators are of the belief if the Microsoft-Activison deal goes through, this will give Microsoft an extensive hold over the gaming industry. This in turn, would make it possible for Microsoft to kill the competition for gaming consoles, by making some of the most popular games as exclusive to Microsoft. What has changed? Microsoft has announced that they won’t be touching the cloud rights for existing Activision games on PCs and consoles, or for any new games they whip up in the next 15 years. Instead, those rights will be handed off to Ubisoft, a French game company, before Microsoft gets its hands on them. The European Union had already given the acquisition a thumbs-up in May. Microsoft was able to convince EU regulators that their acquisition of Activision wouldn’t harm gaming and would be beneficial for the industry as a whole. Meanwhile, in the US, the Federal Trade Commission was battling Microsoft in court, trying to stop the Activision takeover. Then, in July, a judge gave the deal a green light, effectively blocking the FTC’s attempt to derail the deal. Following what happened with the FTC, the CMA was ready to entertain a different and reworked proposal from Microsoft. The New Deal Microsoft and Activision are shaking things up. They’re giving Ubisoft, another game company, the rights to stream Activision games on clouds outside of Europe. This way, gamers can play streamable games in all sorts of consoles and platforms, through subscription services. This, however, hasn’t been greenlit by the CMA. They will still go through all the details of this new deal and how it’ll affect the gaming world. In all likelihood, the CMA will try to kill the new deal as well. Speaking of Microsoft, they won’t just let go of those cloud gaming rights without getting a little something in return. They’re gonna pocket some cash through a one-time payment. But that’s not all – there’s this fancy pricing system in place too, where they’ll get paid based on how much those games are used. And hey, here’s a twist: Ubisoft gets the green light to let folks play Activision Blizzard games on cloud gaming platforms that don’t run on Windows. And over at Ubisoft, they have said that they’re all about giving players the time of their lives no matter where they decide to play. They’re super pumped that this new deal is gonna open up even more doors for players to dive into some of the hottest gaming brands out there.