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Xbox and Microsoft already have a date to close the Activision Blizzard purchase

A long process that could come to an end for Microsoft next week.

DADO RUVICREUTERS

The purchase agreement between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard could be finalized next Friday, October 13, 2023. A source has reportedly revealed this to The Verge, putting an end to an intense chapter in the video game industry and confirming the acquisition of the historic company for $68.7 billion. The deal is still subject to a final decision by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is the biggest obstacle to completing the purchase.

The British CMA provisionally approved the purchase but then opened a consultation that will end this Friday, after which it will make a final decision. It is expected that the decision will come next week and that it will be in favor of Microsoft, allowing it to close the deal and finally acquire Activision Blizzard. A long process in which Microsoft restructured its purchase proposal, including the sale of cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, an addition that seems to have been enough for the CMA to look favorably on the deal.

The purchase agreement between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard is expected to close in 2023.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, a complicated purchase process that is about to be confirmed

Activision Blizzard was living in complicated times, with a public image on the ground, the California company was far from its best moment. A classic of the video game industry with some of the most powerful licenses in history, and that is why the announcement of its purchase by Microsoft surprised so many people and generated a great controversy around it. A long process in which several world markets had to approve the agreement, the British CMA being the last obstacle in an arduous road for the North Americans and what has been their most mediatic and outstanding purchase so far.