Microsoft is already singing victory on the Activision Blizzard acquisition… in London

It is true that everything points to Microsoft getting the approval to acquire Activision Blizzard. Still, it is, to say the least, reckless that the company has already started putting up ads on the subject around the London Underground. Under the slogan “Call of Duty for 150 million more players”, the developer emphasizes the supposed benefits that the purchase will bring to the players and reminds us of the latest agreements that it has had to reach to be given the green light (like the one about Bringing Call of Duty to Nintendo Switch).

This strategy, which is reminiscent of a certain announcement that the company published in March in the Financial Times newspaper, seeks to put pressure on the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority), the organization that regulates the UK market and monitors the practice of competitive activities, whose verdict is scheduled for this April 26. Once it is pronounced, the European Union will go after it and take the final decision on May 22.

Until now, the big stumbling block for Activision Blizzard’s purchase was Call of Duty, but according to a recent statement, Microsoft has already circumvented it. Pay attention to the words of Martin Coleman, one of the experts leading the investigation:

“Having considered the additional evidence provided, we have now provisionally concluded that the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in console gaming services because the cost to Microsoft of withholding Call of Duty from PlayStation would outweigh any gains from taking such action.”

The CMA ruled out that Microsoft could make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive or that it may somehow harm the versions of the game for Sony consoles. Because as ridiculous as it sounds, it’s what they’ve both been accusing each other of these last months during a soap opera of which we leave you the latest chapters: