The biggest acquisition in video game history appears to be coming to a close. After Microsoft offered to buy Activision Blizzard nearly two years ago – and faced a barrage of government hurdles along the way – the tech company is reportedly readying to close the sale, Gizmodo reported.
Sources told The Verge that the 68.7 billion sale finally appears to be winding down, with Microsoft eyeing an October 13 closing date. This month marks 20 months since Microsoft first announced the intent to buy Activision Blizzard in February 2022. The outlet reports that the final loos end is approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which gave its verbal approval of the sale last month. The CMA reportedly has a deadline that ends today to gather any opinions on the contrary of approving the sale, with a final, official decision set to be announced next week.
According to Gizmodo, Microsoft has experienced plenty of turbulence throughout its quest to acquire Activision Blizzard, a video game holding company whose titles include World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Diablo III. UK regulators initially blocked the acquisition last spring, with Microsoft scrambling to tweak the acquisition terms and submitting a “restructured transaction” in August.
Under the revision, Microsoft will forfeit the purchase of cloud gaming rights held by Activision, which will instead be purchased by Ubisoft. Meanwhile, EU regulators gave the acquisition a stamp of approval with little friction.
The Verge reported that Microsoft and Activision extended their deal deadline to October 18th recently, but if Microsoft is able to close its deal next week then it will bring to a close a 20-month process of regulatory approvals and battles across Europe and the US a little earlier than expected.
According to The Verge, the FTC is still appealing the outcome of that hearing with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a decision is due in early December. The FTC is also planning to resume its own administrative case against Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard Acquisition. The administrative case will commence 21 days after the Ninth Circuit rules on the FTC’s appeal, with the hearing held virtually. The FTC could attempt to undue Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal, assuming it closes on time, but would face an unprecedented uphill battle.
IGN reported that it’s worth noting the FTC has an appeal lodged with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the U.S., but a decision on that isn’t due until early December. The FTC also has an administrative case of its own waiting in the wings, but that won’t kick off until 21 days after the Ninth Circuit makes a call on the appeal. The FTC appears to intend to under the merger after the fact, although experts say such a move would be unprecedented.
According to IGN, thoughts have already turned to Microsoft’s integration of the Activision Blizzard business, and the future of games such as Call of Duty. In an August interview with IGN, Xbox boss Phil Spencer indicated work would need to be done to get Activision Blizzard’s games on Game Pass once the deal closes.
“I want to make sure people know that there’s work to actually move games to Game Pass,” Spencer said. “So, for the people who think the deal is going to close and then everything’s available, that’s not true. And it hasn’t been true in other acquisitions that we’ve done. There’s work for us to go do, just mechanical work for us to go do. So, it’ll take us time, definitely time to get the games in the portfolio.”
In my opinion, this news appears to strongly indicate that the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard is very likely to go through. I hope it can get done before BlizzCon, because that would make the event that much more exciting!