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The UK did not ultimately block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the original deal in April 2023 because it feared Microsoft could use Activision’s games to weaken competition in cloud gaming. It later approved a restructured transaction in October 2023, after cloud-streaming rights outside the European Economic Area (EEA) were placed with Ubisoft, an independent supplier.
What happened to Microsoft’s Activision takeover in the UK?
The CMA’s concern narrowed as its investigation progressed. It initially examined how the transaction could affect competition across gaming, but by March 2023 it said the deal would not substantially lessen competition in UK console gaming. Cloud gaming remained the central issue.
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| Date | UK regulatory decision or development |
|---|---|
| July 2022 | The CMA launched its merger inquiry. |
| 15 September 2022 | The CMA referred the transaction for an in-depth Phase 2 investigation. |
| 8 February 2023 | The CMA provisionally found competition concerns. |
| 24 March 2023 | The CMA said the deal would not substantially lessen competition in UK console gaming, leaving cloud gaming as the live concern. |
| 26 April 2023 | The CMA prohibited the original transaction, saying Microsoft’s proposed remedy had significant shortcomings and would require ongoing oversight in a fast-moving market. |
| 21 August 2023 | Microsoft announced a restructured transaction that shifted cloud-streaming rights outside the EEA to Ubisoft. |
| 22 September 2023 | The CMA said the revised deal substantially addressed its concerns, subject to consultation and protections to make the commitments enforceable. |
| 13 October 2023 | The CMA consented to Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard, excluding Activision’s non-EEA cloud-streaming rights. |
The CMA’s statutory deadline for its Phase 2 investigation was 26 April 2023. The original transaction, which the CMA described as a $68.7 billion deal in 2023, was prohibited on that date; the later consent applied to a materially restructured version, not the original proposal.
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Cloud gaming lets people play games streamed over the internet instead of buying an expensive console or gaming PC. The CMA’s concern was about who would control important games and the routes through which rivals could offer them—not simply about whether Microsoft would own more game studios.
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In its 2023 decision, the CMA estimated Microsoft already held 60–70% of global cloud-gaming services, citing its Xbox business, Windows, Azure and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It said Microsoft might find it commercially beneficial to make Activision games exclusive to its own service. The titles it named included Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft.
The regulator considered the stakes potentially significant because cloud gaming could give people access to games without a high-cost device. The CMA forecast in 2023 that the market could be worth up to £11 billion globally and £1 billion in the UK by 2026. It also reported that monthly active UK cloud gamers had more than tripled between the start of 2021 and the end of 2022. These are figures and forecasts published by the CMA in 2023, not measurements of the market in 2026.
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Why did Microsoft’s first remedy fail?
Microsoft’s initial proposal was a ten-year behavioural remedy: rules governing which games it would make available to cloud platforms and on what terms. The CMA concluded that the proposal did not adequately protect competition and would leave difficult questions to be resolved through continuing regulatory supervision.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware match- Subscription coverage: The remedy did not sufficiently cover multigame subscriptions, a way of offering access to a catalogue of games for a recurring fee.
- Operating systems: It did not adequately support cloud gaming on non-Windows operating systems.
- Terms set by regulation: The proposal standardised terms that the CMA thought should instead be shaped by competition among providers.
- Enforcement and disputes: The CMA saw a risk that disagreements about compliance would need to be settled through ongoing oversight in a fast-moving market.
The CMA also considered the potential benefit of adding Activision games to Game Pass. It concluded that this would not outweigh the competitive harm it identified, including the possibility that Microsoft could later raise Game Pass prices after adding Activision content.
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How did Ubisoft change the deal?
The revised transaction changed who controlled cloud-streaming rights outside the EEA. Instead of leaving those rights under Microsoft’s control subject to its proposed rules, it made Ubisoft an independent supplier of Activision cloud-streaming rights in that territory.
Under Microsoft’s August 2023 account of the arrangement, Ubisoft received rights covering current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years; Microsoft said the rights were in perpetuity. Ubisoft could offer those games directly to consumers or license them to cloud providers. The revised arrangement allowed for both buy-to-play and multigame subscription models. Microsoft also committed to porting Activision games to non-Windows operating systems and supporting emulators when requested.
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The geographic boundary matters. The CMA’s October 2023 consent excluded Activision’s non-EEA cloud-streaming rights from Microsoft’s acquisition. Microsoft said it retained obligations in the EEA under its commitments to the European Commission. The UK decision therefore should not be read as saying Ubisoft held these rights worldwide.
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| Issue | Original transaction and remedy | Restructured transaction |
|---|---|---|
| Who controlled non-EEA cloud rights? | Microsoft would control the rights, subject to its proposed behavioural remedy. | Ubisoft became the independent supplier of Activision cloud-streaming rights outside the EEA. |
| Could rival cloud providers get the games? | The CMA found the proposed arrangements did not adequately address the risk to rival cloud services. | Ubisoft could license the games to all cloud providers or offer them directly to consumers. |
| Were subscriptions and non-Windows systems addressed? | The CMA said multigame subscriptions and support for non-Windows systems were not adequately covered. | Ubisoft’s licensing rights covered buy-to-play and multigame subscription models; Microsoft also committed to non-Windows ports and requested emulator support. |
| How long did the obligations last? | Microsoft proposed a ten-year behavioural remedy. | Microsoft described Ubisoft’s rights as covering games released over the next 15 years and as being in perpetuity. Microsoft retained EEA obligations under its European Commission commitments. |
| How was competition meant to be protected? | Through behavioural rules governing Microsoft’s conduct, which the CMA said would need ongoing oversight. | By placing non-EEA cloud rights with an independent supplier able to license them to competing services. |
The CMA’s distinction was structural rather than merely a matter of extending or rewriting the first set of rules. Its senior director of mergers said on 22 September 2023 that the revised deal kept cloud distribution of the games “in the hands of a strong independent supplier, Ubisoft, rather than under the control of Microsoft.”
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Did the UK eventually approve the Activision deal?
Yes—but only after the deal was restructured. The CMA prohibited the original transaction on 26 April 2023 and consented on 13 October 2023 to Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard without Activision’s non-EEA cloud-streaming rights. In announcing its assessment of the revised deal on 22 September 2023, the CMA chief executive said the merger could proceed only if competition, innovation and choice in cloud gaming were preserved.
The approval resolved the UK merger-control question for the revised transaction; it was not a finding that the original proposal had no risks. The decision also does not establish present-day cloud-game availability, prices or subscription terms, which can change independently of the rights allocation the CMA assessed.
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