London
Microsoft has modified its controversial $69bn deal to take over video game maker Activision Blizzard in a bid to placate the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), says Chris Hughes on Bloomberg. “Like those irritating Windows updates, installation and reboot will be a tortuous affair. But the pain and the wait may well be worth it for all sides.” The regulator had blocked the deal on the grounds that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision’s highly popular catalogue of games would have a detrimental effect on the nascent market for streaming video games through the cloud. It feared rivals would be unable to compete effectively if Microsoft’s platform got “such a big jump start”. After some wrangling, the US tech giant has agreed to give French games maker Ubisoft distribution rights outside of the European Economic Area for all of Activision’s current catalogue, plus for new content produced in the next 15 years. The question of what happens after that remains, but it does allow the cloud market to evolve according to customers’ preferences in the
