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How the Microsoft-Activision Deal Came Back From the Dead

23Aug

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Technology

How the Microsoft-Activision Deal Came Back From the Dead

[ad_1] If Microsoft Corp. completes its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in the coming months, the $69 billion deal will go down as one of the biggest comeback stories in the history of mergers.By this past April, the gaming industry's biggest acquisition ever appeared doomed. US regulators had filed a challenge to the takeover and their counterparts in the UK had blocked it outright. But Microsoft resurrected the purchase earlier this summer, deploying what amounted to a bluff that pitted US and UK regulators against each another. And on Tuesday the UK agreed to open a fresh probe of the transaction, following an offer from Microsoft to sell the cloud rights of current and future Activision games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment SA. If the transaction clears t...

Microsoft’s Potential Acquisition of Activision Blizzard: What This Means for Gamers

[ad_1] The sun finally came out for Microsoft. On 11 July, Judge Jacqueline Corley ruled in favor of the Redmond, Washington-based company in its dispute against the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the purchase of Activision Blizzard, one of the world's largest video game developers. An appeal by the FTC to temporarily halt the deal was denied by an appellate court late last week.With these decisions, the tech giant is now one step closer to closing the $69 billion acquisition deal, which was first announced back in January 2022. The court's decision removes the hurdle of the FTC, however, across the pond, Microsoft still faces pushback from regulators in the United Kingdom who argue that the deal could stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. And Microsoft is re...

Microsoft’s Lineup of Exclusive Games Draws Fire From Deal Foes

[ad_1] US officials suing to stop Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc. argue the software giant's recent acquisition history suggests it's motivated to rope off blockbuster video games from competitors.Microsoft routinely distributes its video games across multiple consoles, but with the 2020 purchase of gaming conglomerate ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion, the company placed an increased emphasis on exclusive, top tier titles. As the Federal Trade Commission seeks in court to block the Activision merger, the agency pointed to the ZeniMax deal to poke holes in Microsoft's assertion that the acquisition will be good for the industry and question its intention to make more games available on multiple platforms. Starting with the ZeniMax purchase, Microsoft made...