Microsoft’s push to get the UK Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) on board with its acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues, with a surprising new potential partner: Ubisoft. Microsoft has submitted a new proposal for the acquisition after the CMA confirmed the original deal would still be blocked.
The CMA rejected the original deal over the issue of cloud gaming, and that’s where Ubisoft comes in. The new deal proposed would transfer cloud gaming rights outside of the EEA (most of Europe) to Activision Blizzard games released over the next 15 years (that’s 2038) to Ubisoft. The restructured deal would divest those rights to Ubisoft before Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard, in an effort to address the CMA's original concern over cloud gaming.
What's more, Ubisoft would be able to license out Activision Blizzard content under a number of different business models. This means things like licensing to cloud gaming service providers or subscription services. This would also include the ability to license it back to Microsoft. To sweeten the deal, Ubisoft would also have the power to require Microsoft to release titles covered under the agreement on non-Windows operating systems if they choose. If this part of the deal goes through, Ubisoft will pay Microsoft for the streaming rights through a one-time payment and Also pay a wholesale rate based on usage.
For its part, the UK CMA sent out a press release, and a comment via Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA>
“The CMA has today confirmed that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, as originally proposed, cannot proceed.
Separately, Microsoft has notified a new and restructured deal, which is substantially different from what was put on the table previously” and, after describing the details, said that “This is not a green light. We will carefully and objectively assess the details of the restructured deal and its impact on competition, including in light of third-party comments”.
In terms of the deal, Microsoft is asking for a new investigation of the restructure proposal. The CMA will consider it under its usual Phase 1 process with a deadline for October 18th. October 18th is the date that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard agreed to push their deal closure to and it seems that Microsoft is optimistic that this date can still work.
Microsoft is also citing its number of deals signed with various competing platforms to keep games on those platforms for the next decade after acquiring Activision Blizzard. Signed deals for that content include ones with Sony, which was, of course, the big holdout in trying to stop the overall deal from moving forward.
