Here’s a recap
Back in January this year, the news broke that Microsoft began the steps to purchase Activision Blizzard. This was a gigantic purchase, and it dwarfed Take-Two’s $12.7 billion acquisition of Zynga. Microsoft paid a whopping $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard. Even though the purchase happened almost half a year ago, it’s not completely finished. Since such a large part of the gaming industry is going under one company, there are different governmental agencies that will need to look at this deal before Microsoft can officially own Activision Blizzard.
The UK is looking into Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard
We all mostly expected the American government to get involved, but this deal has caught the attention of governments across the Atlantic. The UK is now looking into this deal. The UK’s Competition and Marketing Agency is now putting this massive acquisition under its magnifying glass. The agency wants to investigate whether this purchase would lead to a “substantial lessening of competition”. This is the theme surrounding any agency that would look into the purchase. Microsoft really bought a massive section of the gaming market. If this deal completely goes through, Microsoft will have increased its player base by over 400 million monthly players. There will be a lot of different games under Microsoft’s rule, so people on other platforms won’t be able to play them. After a while, PlayStation players won’t be able to any Call of Duty games because that franchise is under Microsoft. There are other franchises like World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Starcraft, and many more small franchises under Microsoft. The UK could send a probe to look into the deal as early as September. This means that Microsoft still has more time to wait on the deal.
