UK regulator extends deadline for Microsoft-Activision investigation by six weeks

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Activision ‘Call of Duty’ games are pictured in a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 18, 2022.

Carlo Allegri | Reuters

LONDON The UK’s competition regulator on Friday said it was extending the deadline for reviewing Microsoft’s acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard by six weeks.

The extension will give the watchdog more time to review proposals from the two sides to resolve its concerns after suspending a campaign to block the deal.

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“The Inquiry Group has decided to extend it by six weeks … as it believes there are special reasons for doing so. The revised period will therefore end on 29 August 2023,” the UK’s competition and markets regulator said on Friday.

The British regulator has been a staunch opponent of Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, stalling the deal in April over competition concerns in the nascent cloud gaming market.

The CMA appeared to soften its tone earlier in the week, signaling it was ready to resume discussions with the Redmond-based tech titan.

“We are ready to consider any proposal from Microsoft to restructure the transaction to address the concerns set forth in our final report,” a CMA spokesperson said by email to CNBC Tuesday.

The CMA’s concerns have focused on the likelihood of Microsoft making Activision games exclusive to its platform, as the tech giant sets its sights on the nascent market for cloud gaming, a technology that will effectively allow users to stream games over remote servers, like Netflix watchers do. with a movie.

Microsoft’s multiple concession offers to the CMA have yet to bear fruit. In February, the CMA responded with a notice of potential remedies, which included the sale of its companion unit to the Call of Duty base game and the divestment of part of Activision Blizzard’s business.

The deal also met with opposition in the US, but appeared to gain traction in the US earlier this week after the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of the two companies. The US Federal Trace Commission has since appealed its decision on Wednesday to deny a request for a preliminary injunction, which would have prevented the transaction from completing.

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