Microsoft and Activision watch hurdles to US$69 billion deal fall

MICROSOFT and Activision Blizzard – the video-game empire it is seeking to take over in a US$69 billion deal – are edging closer to completing one of the biggest acquisitions of all time.

Over the weekend, Microsoft struck a deal with Sony Group, arguably the staunchest opponent to the takeover, to ensure Activision’s popular Call of Duty franchise remains on Sony’s PlayStation platform for a decade. Two days earlier, a US court cleared another roadblock when it denied a request by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to put the acquisition on hold.

The companies are working to assuage fears about what the merger of one of the industry’s biggest console makers and one of the biggest gamemakers would mean for rivals. The FTC’s defeat last week leaves only the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which, after vetoing the deal in April, has decided to give Microsoft a second chance to offer a remedy. 

On Monday (Jul 17), UK judges at London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal are to consider whether Microsoft’s proposed restructuring of the biggest gaming deal offers a way to sidestep the UK’s veto decision. BLOOMBERG