Microsoft is waging a lengthy and expensive battle to get a hold of both Blizzard and Activision. The multi-billion dollar company just faced its biggest obstacle.
It seems that the British Competitions and Markets Authority is imposing restrictions on Microsoft in their attempt to buy Activision and Blizzard. The CMA was the same agency that opposed Microsoft in their attempts to acquire the two gaming publishers.
So what’s the big deal? It seems that CMA is hesitant on letting Microsoft own Activision and Blizzard over antitrust concerns. What does that mean? Basically, CMA fears that this will give Microsoft too much power in the cloud gaming industry. With Microsoft owing the two publishers, CMA fears of a monopoly being built by the tech giant.
The regulatory agency took steps foreboding Microsoft from purchasing the two companies in march.
But now, it has taken everything a step further by preventing both Activision and Blizzard from getting stakes in Microsoft without their green light. While this practice is expected, we doubt it would be effective in stopping the acquisition. While Activision and Blizzard are both billion dollar companies, they hardly have the funds to acquire Microsoft or a significant portion of it.As of now, the European Union is still on the fence about the acquisition. However, we have news that they will approve the transaction next week. At the moment, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, Japan and Serbia have approved Microsoft’s effort, giving the company a “good to go.”
There has also been an issue within the United States as the Federal Trade Commision is opposing the plan. However, this will hardly have a direct effect as Microsoft can carry out the deal without the FTC’s approval on the matter!
