Subj : Microsoft intends to sell Activision Blizzard streaming rights to
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Tue Aug 22 2023 15:15:04

Microsoft intends to sell Activision Blizzard streaming rights to Ubisoft to 
counter monopoly concerns

Date:
Tue, 22 Aug 2023 14:03:14 +0000

Description:
In an effort to appease the UK mergers regulator, Microsoft has offered to 
sell streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft.

FULL STORY
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Microsoft has reassessed its plans for its proposed acquisition of Activision 
Blizzard, announcing its intentions to sell streaming rights for Activision 
Blizzard titles to Ubisoft, should the deal go ahead. 

Despite winning its case against the Federal Trade Commission , the U.S.'s 
own regulatory body for corporate mergers, Microsoft must still address the 
concerns of the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK, which 
blocked its initial acquisition proposal on the grounds that it would create 
a monopoly in the cloud gaming space. 

In an attempt to address the CMA's concerns, Microsoft announced in a 
statement that it will introduce "an agreementeffectiveat the closing of our 
merger that transfersthe cloud streaming rights for all current and new 
Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to 
Ubisoft Entertainment SA, a leading global game publisher" ( via VGC ). 

This move comes off of the back of an earlier submission made by Microsoft , 
designed to appease the CMA by citing both its binding agreement with Sony to 
keep Call of Duty on PlayStation and the EU's approval of its merger plans . 
This was not enough to satisfy the CMA, however. In a statement today, the 
regulatory body announced that this submission "did not provide any basis for 
a change to the original prohibition decision" and that the CMS would impose 
"a Final Order which prohibits the original deal on a worldwide basis." 

The CMA's statement goes on to explain how this decision prompted Microsoft 
to take a new approach offering a "restructured deal" in which "Microsoft 
will not acquire cloud rights for existing Activision PC and console games, 
or for new games released by Activision during the next 15 years (this 
excludes the European Economic Area). Instead, these rights will be divested 
to Ubisoft Entertainment SA (Ubisoft) prior to Microsofts acquisition of 
Activision." 

As reported by VGC, Microsoft also made a statement of its own: As a result 
of the agreement with Ubisoft, Microsoft believes its proposed acquisition of 
Activision Blizzard presents a substantially different transaction under UK 
law than the transaction Microsoft submitted for the CMAs consideration in 
2022." 

All eyes now turn to the CMA, which will be responsible for determining 
whether or not Microsoft's plans offer significant enough to concessions to 
allay concerns of monopoly building. 

 If you're looking for a distraction from merger drama, check out our list of 
the best Xbox Series X games as well as our round-up of the best upcoming 
games .



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/gaming/microsoft-intends-to-sell-activision-blizzard
-streaming-rights-to-ubisoft-to-counter-monopoly-concerns


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