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Microsoft Corp. has finalized its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, overcoming two years of legal challenges and regulatory scrutiny to reshape the gaming landscape.
Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition bid proceeded after getting the approval of the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which had been the tech firm's greatest obstacle. The good news was reported.
Successful Campaign of Fending Off Global Opposition
The CMA initially refused to allow the acquisition, citing anti-competition concerns, and apparently, it changed its decision after Microsoft filed an appeal. The American tech firm also offered various resolutions to the issues raised by the anti-trust regulator in the U.K. Thus, in the end, the CMA was won over and released its approval decision, leading to Microsoft and Activision Blizzard's deal's completion.
Games Hub noted that in the two years that Microsoft worked to gain the approvals of anti-trust regulators worldwide, it faced many legal battles related to competition issues. Financial and competition authorities opined that the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard may suppress competition in the entire video game industry.
The tech firm's rival, Sony Corp., also expressed fears that the deal will restrict PlayStation gamers' access to popular game titles such as "Call of Duty," one of Activision's long-running and well-known shooting game series. But finally, the process was over, and everything ended well for Microsoft.
Xbox's New Studios Following Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision Blizzard
With all the hurdles cleared, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are preparing to merge and do business together for a new future. With that aid, the former is a new owner of rights to the latter's entire game library.
As per Game Reactor, this also tripled the size of Xbox Studio. Since Activision Blizzard is now an Xbox first-party company, the organization includes Xbox, Bethesda, Activision, and King gaming studios. This means a super extensive game list that will surely boost the companies' sales further this year and years.
Photo by: Saj HZ/Unsplash
