Should the United Kingdom’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) once again rejectMicrosoft’s proposed acquisition ofActivision-Blizzard, the studio may completely withdraw from the UK market. The UK CMA rejected the gigantic $69 billion acquisition back in April, but Microsoft will officially appeal the decision in July. According to the CMA, its rejection comes down to concerns over the acquisition’s effect on the cloud gaming market. Now, a recent report fromBloomberghas suggested that one “extreme” measure would be to completely withdraw Activision from the UK market.READ MORE:The Paladin And Monk Need To Make A Comeback In Diablo 4According to Bloomberg’s report, Microsoft’s president Brad Smith will be meeting with the UK’s chancellor Jeremy Hunt next week to discuss the acquisition. People familiar with the upcoming talks also told Bloomberg what could happen if the UK CMA rejects Microsoft’s appeal next month. “One extreme option could be to bypass the UK order and press ahead with the deal, or withdraw Activision from the UK market,” Bloomberg’s report states. So, what does this mean, exactly? Well, as the report states, Activision’s removal from the UK market is an “extreme” option, which means there’s a strong chance it doesn’t happen at all. But, if it does, it would mean Activision-published titles such asCall of Dutywould need to be purchased via a third party in the United Kingdom.
There’s still a long way to go before this extreme option is considered, but if it should come to fruition, it’s likely only going to affect Activision titles, and not Microsoft-published ones, but the exact details are yet to be made clear.
Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard wasannounced back in January of 2022, but the company still needs to get approval from countries all around the world before the deal can be made official. Almost 40 countries have approved the deal at the time of writing this article, but two of the most major countries in the world, the UK and the US, both have concerns about the acquisition.
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