Last year was absolutely packed full of news about Xbox's continual attempts to acquire Activision Blizzard in various countries around the world, but a major roadblock almost put a stop to everything 12 months ago.
Yes, it's been almost an entire year since the UK's Competition and Markets Authority blocked Microsoft's acquisition of the company, stating at the time that there were concerns about Xbox dominating the cloud gaming market.
"The cloud allows UK gamers to avoid buying expensive gaming consoles and PCs and gives them much more flexibility and choice as to how they play. Allowing Microsoft to take such a strong position in the cloud gaming market just as it begins to grow rapidly would risk undermining the innovation that is crucial to the development of these opportunities."
Looking back at the Pure Xbox comments is pretty fascinating. Plenty of us really weren't sure that the Activision Blizzard acquisition would actually go ahead, and some simply believed that the UK might have to be avoided entirely.
Fortunately, things resolved themselves in the end. A big reason was because Microsoft sold a bunch of Activision Blizzard cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft, with the CMA describing the new deal as making "important changes".
Nevertheless, the whole saga isn't necessarily over yet. Although the European Commission and UK CMA were eventually won over, the US Federal Trade Commission remains unhappy with the acquisition to this day, and continues to challenge Microsoft over it. A failed request for a preliminary injunction put a huge dent in the FTC plans, however.
Looking back, this was a truly crazy time for Xbox and the industry as a whole that will forever occupy a spot in the history books, and now we can finally look forward to all the ActiBlizz goodness coming our way on Xbox Game Pass.
Do you remember this? Did you think the acquisition was over? Let us know your thoughts down below.
Comments 18
That whole saga really was a rollercoaster ride. I'm so glad it is over as well. I think we will have a massive ABK drop on Game Pass before summer is over.
It’s done. it’s completed it’s part of MS. And it’s paying dividends
No need to drag it back up to fan Console wars just to get clicks and comments.
And a year later all us gamers have to show for it is Diablo whatever number on gamepass 👏
Really? I hadn't noticed.
I am just glad I get to play CoD campaigns and a bit of zombies without paying $70/year
A whole year since the CMA had a functioning brain and knew that a platform holder (all 3 of them, not just Microsoft) shouldn't be allowed to buy the biggest publishers in the industry, shame it didn't last.
@ShadowofTwilight You can't still be angry surely?
The CMA objection was laughable and ill informed, showing they know nothing about the games industry.
I'm glad it's over.
@__jamiie
I should be happy that a trillion dollar company is getting free reign to buy up everything?
Not angry, just concerned.
@ShadowofTwilight Microsoft buying a giant publisher shouldn't concern you and they haven't had free reign. They've also been making games well before PlayStation and Xbox even existed so they have credibility in the games industry.
You should however be concerned about companies like Tencent, Amazon, Meta and the Saudi PIF buying things.
It was a crazy long saga and Jim Ryan wanted to eke it out for as long as he could. He got his deal and then off he popped.
Xbox are putting games in as many places as possible. It’s good for gamers. Anyone who doesn’t see that is deluded.
@__jamiie None of which are console makers and will pull publishers games away from other platforms.
I stand by that I'd rather have Amazon or Tencent buy any publisher over Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.
Crazy how to government bodies they're still fighting Microsoft becoming a "gaming monopoly in high end gaming consoles" as MS is announcing porting their games to the direct competition that tried to block them without coercion, and fans/pundits are wringing their hands over "Xbox going third party and ending hardware." Someone on some side has not got the memo.
@BaldBelper78 Though Jim didn't "pop" because he got his deal. Jim "was popped" by corporate HQ because he was spending like a drunk in a casino and making little money. Sure, sure he "decided living in the UK and working in the US was just too much and it was time to retire." Right after corporate apologized to investors for under-performing expectations and "asking" PS to get its budgets under control, before slashing projects left and right. Just coincidental timing.
Never had a single doubt the acquisition was gonna go through. The CMA’s case was weak af and amazingly, the FTC’s was even worse. There should have been an investigation into Lina Khan and the connections between her, Sony and the CMA.
Oh well, what’s done is done and it turned out exactly as it should have been.
"And in some ways, it's still not over." Yes, according to Sony, it's still not over. Lol.
Amazing how the FTC is still trying to waste time and resources fighting this. It's done, over, time to put their pride aside, admit defeat, and focus on something more important.
@Ver
You're seriously comparing a deal that was made when Microsoft was anti-cross play to them being given full reign to consolidate the industry?
I'll play your game though. When can I get all the Dead Rising games and all the Tomb Raider DLC on PS as well?
@Ver To be fair, Street Fighter V was funded by Sony and probably wouldn't have happened (at least at the time) if Sony didn't fund the project. It sucks that it skipped Xbox, but it did have a legitimate reason why.
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