Microsoft restructures the multi-billion dollar acquisition deal of giant Activision Blizzard, the largest in its history. video game. Will be transferred to computer company Ubisoft cloud gaming rights from creator’call of Duty‘ And ‘world of warcraft‘, a move that seeks to calm regulators’ concerns United Kingdom.
On 26 April, the British Competition and Markets Authority blocked the EU’s purchase for around $70,000 million (about €62,649 million), thinking it could change the market. cloud gamesharms competition, innovation and users. The UK’s decision was a major setback for Microsoft, which made a purchase offer in January 2022.
“To address concerns raised by the UK Markets and Competition Authority regarding the impact of the proposed acquisition on cloud game streaming, we are restructuring the transaction to acquire a smaller set of rights,” said Microsoft President. Brad Smith. Now, the UK regulator needs to investigate the new buyout offer and provide a response on October 18.
Ubisoft took advantage of
Microsoft’s new offer will benefit the French company UbisoftRecipient of cloud streaming rights “for all current and new Activision Blizzard games released for PC and consoles in the next 15 years”. ‘Call of Duty’ and ‘World of Warcraft’, which are mentioned among the company’s game portfolio, stand out, but ‘Devil‘,’sugar paste‘,’accident bandicoot‘,’Tony Hawk‘ anyone ‘guitar hero‘. According to Smith, these rights will be “forever”.
This offer means that, if approved, Microsoft cannot launch these and other new games exclusively on Microsoft’s cloud gaming services. xbox, your console. Ubisoft will pay the company to hold those rights and make the video games available to the public through its platform, Amazon Luna, available for PC. play station and the same Xbox.
However, Ubisoft will only control rights outside the European Union (EU), as community regulators have approved the merger and do not show the same concern about a possible concentration of the market that will affect the consumer. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) condemned the process, but it was overturned by the appeal courts. Deals that Microsoft has knitted in other parts of the planet will be blocked from mid-October until the open case in the UK is decided.