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The ongoing saga around the Microsoft’s deal to buy Activision Blizzard has taken another couple of twists, as the UK’s competition and markets authority has extended the deadline over its final decision.
As noted by The Verge, the regulating authority has said it will no longer formally block the deal on July 18, and now has until August 29 to make its final decision on whether the proposed merger will go ahead in the UK. According to the report, Microsoft has submitted a new proposal as part of its agreed negotiations with the body it entered into earlier this week, but the CMA says there is “insufficient time remaining” to consider the new changes and as a result has extended the deadline by six weeks. However, it has said it hopes to have reached a decision before the end of this deadline.
Interestingly enough, Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft is considering selling UK cloud gaming rights to other companies in order to help close the deal. Cloud gaming has been a big sticking point in the negotiations on the UK side, with the CMA claiming that the deal could lead to “reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come” in the sector.
At the same time, the US based FTC has seen its initial appeal of its loss to Microsoft in the court case earlier this week denied. The body was originally seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the deal, but this was denied by federal Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley. However, the body has now launched a ‘temporary pause’ on the deal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is expected to come to a decision later today.
Should this also be denied, Microsoft and Activision could be free to close the deal as soon as this weekend or early next week, although it may still be a few weeks before we see a resolution on the UK side of things. Microsoft originally announced it was buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion dollars back in January of last year.
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