To appease the UK, Microsoft restructures its Activision deal by committing to sell Activision's cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft; the UK CMA will now investigate
right now it's negligible. Ashley Armstrong / @aarmstrong_says : Big news on Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal : Microsoft files new deal with UK competition regulators for Call of Duty video game maker, agreeing to spinoff cloud streaming rights on closure . CMA will likely feel vindicated for being the lone regulatory voice to block. [image] Katie Prescott / @kprescott : Back to the drawing board for Microsoft and Activision in the latest dramatic twist, as the competition watchdog pushes their deal submission back to square one. The US company will submit a “new” deal and the CMA will look at it afresh in a “new” phase 1 investigation @swiftonsecurity : @tomwarren I'm so sick of this fucking story. Microsoft needs to either cancel the Activision purchase or just ban every British person from Xbox and unify Ireland. Lewis Crofts / @lewis_crofts : Microsoft-Activision deal has been reshaped in the UK with a side-deal with Ubisoft. New deal is notified to the @CMAgovUK. The new transaction ensures that Msft can continue to honour the commitments it gave to @CMAgovUK Blog by @BradSmi here https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ... @martinsfp : Under Microsoft and Activision Blizzard's new deal to appease the UK's CMA, “Activision's cloud streaming rights outside the European Economic Area will be sold to Ubisoft” Well that will make cloud gaming more complicated and confusing for consumers. https://giftarticle.ft.com/... @cmagovuk : Microsoft has proposed a new, restructured deal to acquire Activision and submitted it to the CMA for review. The CMA has now opened a new phase 1 investigation into the deal. https://www.gov.uk/... Brad Smith / @bradsmi : Today we submitted a restructured proposal to the CMA for approval of our Activision Blizzard acquisition under UK law. This new proposal also honors our prior commercial and regulatory commitments. Read more here: https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ... LinkedIn: Ronan Scanlan : Well, it's the final countdown to the most notorious UK merger control case of 2023, Microsoft's anticipated acquisition of Activision Blizzard. … Forums: r/gaming : Microsoft to sell off Activision Cloud Gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval r/XboxGamePass : Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval r/unitedkingdom : Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval r/xcloud : Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval r/XboxGamePass : Activision Blizzard Games will be on Ubisoft+. Unclear if they will be withheld from Game Pass. r/technology : Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval r/TwoBestFriendsPlay : Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval r/heroesofthestorm : Activision Blizzard Games Coming To Ubisoft+ r/wow : Activision Blizzard Games Coming To Ubisoft+ r/xboxone : Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval r/XboxSeriesX : Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval r/kindafunny : As part of Microsoft's efforts to please the CMA and continue with the ABK merger in the UK, Activision Blizzard games are coming To Ubisoft+ r/PS5 : Activision Blizzard Games Coming To Ubisoft+ r/Games : Microsoft and Activision Blizzard Restructure Proposed Acquisition and Notify Restructured Transaction to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority Msmash / Slashdot : Microsoft To Sell Off Activision Cloud Gaming Rights To Ubisoft in Bid for UK Approval
The VergeTom Warren
Context & Ripple Effects
The UK CMA’s earlier block centered on the nascent cloud-gaming market, even as EU regulators had approved the transaction after commitments intended to preserve rivals’ access to Activision games. That regulatory split made cloud rights—not console ownership alone—the unresolved issue.
This filing recasts the transaction around a separate rights holder outside the EEA and sends the revised structure into a new CMA Phase 1 review. It is a concrete test of whether ownership remedies can resolve concerns that behavioral access commitments did not.
First-order effects
Microsoft’s proposed acquisition perimeter changes: Activision’s cloud-streaming rights outside the EEA would be transferred to Ubisoft rather than retained by Microsoft.
Ubisoft becomes the proposed holder of a commercially important rights package, while the CMA reopens scrutiny through a new Phase 1 investigation.
Second-order effects
The remedy gives the CMA a distinct asset transfer to assess, rather than asking it to rely solely on Microsoft’s promises to make games available to rivals.
Other cloud-gaming providers must evaluate Ubisoft—not Microsoft—as the prospective licensing counterparty for the affected Activision rights if the transaction closes.
Third-order effects
The case points toward merger remedies that separate cloud distribution rights from game ownership when regulators view streaming as a distinct competitive layer.
If accepted, the structure would show that market-access governance can determine the shape of major content acquisitions, even where the underlying market remains early-stage.
The trend: Large game-content deals are increasingly being structured around who controls cloud distribution rights, not just who owns the studios and franchises.
The Ubisoft+ lineup is expanding! We're excited to announce a new agreement that will bring Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft+ via streaming upon the completion of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard! We'll also be licensing the games to a range of cloud streaming..…
Microsoft-Activision saga's new plot twist: With the UK steadfast on blocking the deal over cloud concerns, Microsoft is saying, wait, what if we transfer the cloud rights to Activision Blizzard console/PC games existing now through 2038 to... Ubisoft? https://www.axios.com/...
Ubisoft acting as a global intermediary in Xbox's cloud gaming business as it pursues Activision Blizzard says more about Microsoft's desire to own a treasure chest of IP, including valuable living games and the perceived importance of exclusive cloud gaming than anything else.
New @TheTerminal in the never-ending Microsoft-Activision saga: The European Commission says it's considering whether Microsoft's tweaked deal to buy Activision Blizzard (Ubisoft remedies) will require a new EU review.
Interesting that the UK competition regulator stuck by its guns on the Microsoft / Activision deal and now basically appears to have got its way despite the explosion of indignation at the initial rejection... https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Xbox chief Phil Spencer sent an internal memo to Microsoft employees discussing the Activision Blizzard deal restructuring. He praises Sarah Bond's “exceptional leadership” and says the CMA review process should complete by deal deadline. Full memo here: https://www.theverge.com/…
I did not have UbiSoft getting involved in the Microsoft / Activision / CMA negotiations on my bingo card for this story but here we are. On the surface, looks like a win win for both parties - CMA save face as the deal is changed - Msft get a deal https://www.gov.uk/...
Microsoft has announced it intends to sell cloud gaming rights for Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft, following the acquisition's closure. UK CMA is now opening a new merger investigation, and now the deal most likely won't close till October. [image]
regulators in the UK and Europe have managed to secure big changes to Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal that will ultimately benefit consumers through choice. What has the FTC managed to do?
At first sight I would say the glass is half-full, but it's a test for many people's patience. I will study the documents published by the CMA and Microsoft&Activision's announcement now, and will then do a Twitter (X) Space to explain what I think it all means.
Am a little baffled that the CMA has come to a totally different conclusion from its EU and US counterparts and is just stubbornly insisting its position is the right one. Microsoft entitled to be quite frustrated imo.
The CMA focused its concerns around Microsoft attaining dominance in cloud gaming, so this could appease it. But also, don't know how significant this is in the overall scope of the acquisition. Really depends on if cloud gaming ends up taking off — right now it's negligible.
Big news on Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal : Microsoft files new deal with UK competition regulators for Call of Duty video game maker, agreeing to spinoff cloud streaming rights on closure . CMA will likely feel vindicated for being the lone regulatory voice to block. [image…
Back to the drawing board for Microsoft and Activision in the latest dramatic twist, as the competition watchdog pushes their deal submission back to square one. The US company will submit a “new” deal and the CMA will look at it afresh in a “new” phase 1 investigation
@tomwarren I'm so sick of this fucking story. Microsoft needs to either cancel the Activision purchase or just ban every British person from Xbox and unify Ireland.
Microsoft-Activision deal has been reshaped in the UK with a side-deal with Ubisoft. New deal is notified to the @CMAgovUK. The new transaction ensures that Msft can continue to honour the commitments it gave to @CMAgovUK Blog by @BradSmi here https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
Under Microsoft and Activision Blizzard's new deal to appease the UK's CMA, “Activision's cloud streaming rights outside the European Economic Area will be sold to Ubisoft” Well that will make cloud gaming more complicated and confusing for consumers. https://giftarticle.ft.com/.…
Microsoft has proposed a new, restructured deal to acquire Activision and submitted it to the CMA for review. The CMA has now opened a new phase 1 investigation into the deal. https://www.gov.uk/...
Today we submitted a restructured proposal to the CMA for approval of our Activision Blizzard acquisition under UK law. This new proposal also honors our prior commercial and regulatory commitments. Read more here: https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...