Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a new interview that UK regulators were "tough and fair" when they initially blocked the company's deal to buy Activision Blizzard in April 2023.
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The Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft will battle in a US appeals courtroom today. The FTC will try to convince the judges that Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard is anticompetitive
The US Federal Trade Commission is still going to go through with its court case against Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard, claiming that the $69 billion deal is "a threat to competition"
Microsoft had officially closed the deal to buy Activision Blizzard. The plan to purchase the huge game developer and publisher of Call of Duty and others was first announced in January 2022
The UK has approved Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Both companies welcomed the regulator's decision. Microsoft will complete its $68.7 billion purchase of the video game publisher.
A new report says that the EU's regulatory body, the European Commission, will not ask for a new probe into Microsoft's proposed purchase of Activision Blizzard, after the company made changes to it.
A new report says Activision held an internal town hall this week, where its CEO Bobby Kotick got interviewed by James Corden (not a joke) about the future of the publisher under Microsoft.
A new report claims, contrary to a message from Activision Blizzard this week, "a ton of" games from the publisher will be added to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass as soon as its acquisition closes.
A new message from Activision Blizzard says that while we won't see Call of Duty Modern Warfare III or Diablo IV added to Xbox Game Pass this year, it will start adding games sometime in 2024.
The Taiwan Fair Trade Commission has approved Microsoft's plan to acquire Activision Blizzard, even as the company awaits final approval from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority.
A new report claims that Microsoft is planning to officially announce it has closed the deal to acquire Activision Blizzard on Friday, October 13, barring any last minute surprise from the UK CMA.
The US Federal Trade Commission will hold its own in-house trial to challenge Microsoft's plan to buy Activision Blizzard, but that trial is unlikely to prevent the deal from closing in October.
A blog post from Microsoft has detailed how 38 signatories filed nine "friend of the court" briefs, showing support for Microsoft's position against the FTC in its bid to buy Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft may be at the finish line of acquiring Activision Blizzard. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally agreed to the buyout following Microsoft's deal with Ubisoft.
A new report claims the UK Competition and Markets Authority could make a preliminary decision on whether or not to approve Microsoft's plan to buy Activision Blizzard sometime next week.
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In recent documents that have been released during the FTC vs. Microsoft case, it's been confirmed that the next installment of The Elder Scrolls franchise won't be coming to PlayStation 5
In a new interview, Brad Smith said that Microsoft has "worked to address" the concerns about the Activision Blizzard deal with regulators, adding “We haven't tried to dismiss them."
Microsoft believes this restructuring of its proposed plan to acquire Activision Blizzard will allow the UK Competition and Markets Authority to finally approve its plan to acquire the game publisher.
New Zealand's Commerce Commission has cleared Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard, with no conditions. The regulator said the purchase "is unlikely to substantially lessen competition".
In a recent interview, an unnamed Hasbro spokesperson stated the company would love to see the older Transformers games from Activision added to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass if the merger happens.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority has received a new submission from Microsoft about changes regarding its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard. The CMA is now taking public comments.
The UK CMA can now consider a possible new proposal from Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard without having to worry about the CAT overturning its original decision to block that deal.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated this week that a Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard would be "good news . . . because it's really showing the power of IPs and where the industry is going."
The US Federal Trade Commission's in-house trial was set to being in early August. However, the fact that it has decided to pause the trial is yet another big victory for Microsoft.
Sarah Cardell, the chief executive at the UK Competition and Markets Authority, said in a new interview that it is still waiting for Microsoft to send it a new Activision Blizzard deal proposal.
The companies now officially have three more months to try to close the deal so Microsoft can finally acquire Call of Duty and Diablo game publisher Activision Blizzard for $79 billion.
The official date for the deal for Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard to close has now come and gone, but the two companies reportedly still want to make this purchase happen.
While Microsoft and the UK CMA seem to want to work together to have the regulator reverse its earlier decision to block the purchase, it looks like the July 18th deal deadline will need an extension.
The newly revealed agreement would seem to indicate that Sony is no longer going to fight Microsoft over its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, which could close very soon.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the Federal Trade Commission's request for injunctive relief against Microsoft, which could mean the deal to buy Activision Blizzard could close soon.
A new report claims Microsoft is considering selling off some of its Xbox Cloud Gaming rights to a third party in order to get the CMA to approve its plans to purchase Activision Blizzard.
The Federal Trade Commission, in its filing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, claims the judge's decision in the lower court had a number of issues that should allow for an overturned decision.
NASDAQ has announced it plans to remove Activision Blizzard prior to the start of trading on Monday, July 17. That would indicate Microsoft is making preparations to close the Activision Blizzard deal
The Federal Trade Commission was denied a preliminary injunction in court this week that would have blocked Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard, but it has now appealed that ruling.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority now says Microsoft can offer a new deal, which could lead to a new investigation by the regulator before it might approve an Activision Blizzard purchase.
Microsoft and the UK Competition and Markets Authority were going to fight in an appeal hearing over the CMA's decision to block the Activision Blizzard purchase but it has been postponed.
A judge has denied the FTC's request to keep Microsoft from closing a deal to acquire Activision Blzzard before its July 18 deadline. The FTC could still appeal this latest decision.
The Competition Tribunal of South Africa has unconditionally approved Microsoft's plan to acquire game publisher Activision Blizzard, although it did not reveal the reasons for its decision.
In court testimony on Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated he "would love to get rid of the entire exclusives on consoles." However, it needs to compete with Sony, which does love exclusives.
In recorded testimony shown during the FTC vs Microsoft court hearing on Tuesday, Sony PlayStation head Jim Ryan claims Xbox Game Pass is "value destructive" for games and publishers.
