The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has officially cleared the way for Xbox to buy Call of Duty publisher Activision, with the deal expected to finally close as soon as this month.
Although the CMA had provisionally approved the deal last month, the body says it has now completed its investigation and is happy for the $68.7 billion USD deal to go ahead, mainly thanks to Ubisoft buying the cloud gaming rights of the company that owns Call of Duty, Diablo and Overwatch to name but a few. “This new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off,” it said in its report. “Preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers. It will allow Ubisoft to offer Activision’s content under any business model, including through multigame subscription services. It will also help to ensure that cloud gaming providers will be able to use non-Windows operating systems for Activision content, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.”
Naturally, all involved are pleased with the decision, with Microsoft’s vice chair and president Brad Smith tweeting the following on Twitter/X: “We’re grateful for the CMA’s thorough review and decision today. We have now crossed the final regulatory hurdle to close this acquisition, which we believe will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide.” Meanwhile Activision CEO Bobby Kotick sent an internal email to the company, posted to Twitter/X by the company’s CCO Lulu Cheng Meservey. “Our board chair Brian Kelly and I are incredibly proud of all of you and your accomplishments over the last four decades. We’re excited for our next chapter together with Microsoft and the endless possibilities it creates for you and for our players.”
Of course, reactions from fans include those that are happy that the almost-two year saga seems to be nearly over, and that the deal means the promise of Call of Duty games coming to Game Pass can go ahead pending the final dotting and crossing of the i’s and t’s. “I hope that if the old CODs are put on Game Pass, please include the DLCs” says HakaishinChampa on Reddit. “I don’t want to spend 30 dollars for the 2 packs I’m missing for BO1.” However, not everyone thinks it’ll happen instantly “I’m not expecting them to start dropping ABK games onto Game Pass right away,” says Sufficient-Check8805. “But I can totally see them slowly adding them throughout the rest of this year to next year.”
Fans may still be waiting a little longer for the latest CoD to turn up on Game Pass though, as Activision recently claimed that MW3 and Diablo 4 wouldn’t be coming to the service until at least 2024. It’s a decision that could prove a double edged sword, as several Xbox fans have already claimed they may skip MW3 at launch and hold out for Game Pass. We’ll have to wait and see what happens over the next few days.
In the meantime, the MW3 beta has kicked off its second weekend – check out our guides on that, including the best controller settings for MW3 beta on PC, Xbox, PS5 and our guide on how to get a MW3 beta key and redeem MW3 beta code.
