Microsoft will be at 10 Downing Street on CMA deadline day for ActiBlizz acquisition

The CMA has set a 26th of April deadline to announce its final decision on Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The CMA has already changed its initial stance, finding that the deal would not harm competition in the console space. As it turns out, the Xbox team is also apparently scheduled to appear at 10 Downing Street next week as part of a government event. 

According to Sky News, Microsoft is set to be amongst a number of companies appearing at 10 Downing Street on the 26th of April for a UKIE-organised event. UKIE is the UK's Interactive Entertainment industry board.

The event takes place on the same day as the CMA's decision, which could be taken as a good sign that the deal will be approved. Getting bad news while sitting in Number 10 would be “embarrassing” for Microsoft, a source cited in the report claims, and one source said it would likely damage the company's relationship with the UK government.

The CMA recently concluded that the deal is unlikely to harm competition in the console market. However, the CMA did still have concerns around the cloud market and has been discussing remedies. To get ahead of this, Microsoft has signed a number of 10-year deals, guaranteeing access to Xbox first-party and Activision Blizzard content on rival cloud gaming platforms. The most recent deal signed was with EE, the UK's biggest mobile network.

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KitGuru Says: It is looking like the CMA will approve the deal with some conditions in place. However, we are still waiting on decisions from the European Commission and the FTC has chosen to sue to block the merger, although this could be settled before going to trial. 

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