Two years after it was first announced, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) finally approves the nearly $70 billion acquisition, the largest ever in the gaming industry.
The U.K. authority acknowledged that the restructured deal ‘makes important changes that substantially address concerns,’ in a statement last Friday, and will announce a final decision by October 6.
The new deal divests cloud rights for existing Activision PC and console games to rival Ubisoft instead of Microsoft; the U.K. regulator has until October 18 to decide.
After winning the European Commission’s approval and triumphing over the FTC, the hard-fought acquisition may close by July 18 if the U.K.’s CMA block is rejected.
The approval brings the Microsoft-owned gaming behemoth one step closer to closing its nearly $70 billion purchase, but there is more work to be done before the deal is finalized.
