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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Microsoft won final UK clearance for its Activision Blizzard acquisition only after restructuring the deal. Ubisoft, not Microsoft, received Activision’s cloud-streaming rights outside the European Economic Area (EEA), covering existing games and future PC and console releases for a 15-year period. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted the revised arrangement and Microsoft’s undertakings on 13 October 2023, then consented to the acquisition without those non-EEA cloud rights.
The concession in one sentence
Microsoft transferred Activision’s global cloud-streaming rights excluding the EEA to Ubisoft, giving an independent company control over how rival cloud-gaming services could obtain and distribute that content.
The arrangement followed the CMA’s decision in April 2023 to prohibit the original full acquisition over concerns about competition in UK cloud gaming. The October clearance was therefore the outcome of a revised transaction and accepted safeguards, not an unconditional approval of the original deal by every regulator.
What Ubisoft received
| Part of the arrangement | What it means |
|---|---|
| Territory | Activision cloud-streaming rights worldwide except the EEA. |
| Games covered | Current Activision PC and console games, plus future releases covered during a 15-year window. |
| EEA rights | Ubisoft received a non-exclusive EEA licence to sell, distribute and sublicense entitlements to cloud-streaming versions. |
| Commercial control | Ubisoft could license the rights to cloud providers and choose models such as buy-to-play, multigame subscriptions or later approaches. |
| Microsoft’s retained permissions | A limited non-exclusive licence to satisfy European Commission commitments and certain existing third-party streaming agreements. |
| Term | Microsoft described the transferred rights as lasting “in perpetuity”; the CMA separately described a 15-year period for future releases covered by the package. |
Those two duration descriptions are not interchangeable. The CMA’s 15-year language concerns future Activision releases within the remedy, while “in perpetuity” is Microsoft’s characterization of the transferred rights term.
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How Ubisoft could commercialize the rights
Ubisoft was not required to operate one particular type of cloud service. It could negotiate licences with providers and decide whether access used individual purchases, a multigame subscription or another commercial model.
Microsoft said the deal involved a one-off payment and a market-based wholesale-pricing mechanism, including an option tied to usage. The CMA materials describe the available licensing structure, not a current catalogue, price or guaranteed availability for any named service.
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Technical portability
The CMA said Ubisoft could, for a fee, require Microsoft to adapt Activision titles for non-Windows operating systems such as Linux. The provisional remedy description also referred to support for game emulators. These provisions were intended to reduce dependence on Microsoft’s Windows and Xbox ecosystem when rights were licensed to other providers.
Why the CMA demanded a different structure
In its original investigation, the CMA found a substantial lessening of competition risk in UK cloud-gaming services. Its concern was that Microsoft, after acquiring Activision’s important game content, could favor its own service, restrict rivals’ access or otherwise control a key route to market.
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The regulator’s remedy theory was that those cloud rights should remain with an independent supplier. CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said the sale to Ubisoft meant Microsoft could not have “a stranglehold” over the developing market. That is the CMA’s characterization of the remedy, not a measured post-deal market result.
During the provisional stage in September, CMA senior director Colin Raftery described the revised transaction as “a new and substantially different deal” that kept cloud distribution in the hands of Ubisoft rather than Microsoft. That statement preceded the final decision.
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Timeline of the UK review
- 26 April 2023: The CMA prohibited the proposed full acquisition, citing cloud-gaming competition concerns.
- 21 August 2023: Microsoft announced the restructuring and proposed transfer of the non-EEA cloud-streaming rights to Ubisoft.
- 22 September 2023: The CMA said the revised transaction substantially addressed its concerns but identified limited risks involving possible circumvention, termination or weak enforcement of the rights sale. It consulted on undertakings.
- 13 October 2023: The CMA accepted the undertakings, made the sale terms enforceable and granted Microsoft consent under its earlier Final Order to acquire Activision without the non-EEA cloud-streaming rights. The case was closed that day.
What Microsoft still acquired—and what it did not
Microsoft completed the Activision Blizzard acquisition in the UK framework after excluding the specified non-EEA cloud-streaming rights from its control. It did not receive unrestricted control over worldwide cloud distribution of Activision games. Ubisoft became the rights holder and licensing gatekeeper for the covered territory, subject to the licences and obligations in the remedy.
The EEA treatment is more complicated. Ubisoft received a non-exclusive licence there, while Microsoft retained limited permissions needed for European Commission commitments and certain pre-existing third-party agreements. The concession therefore was not a simple worldwide transfer of every cloud right to Ubisoft.
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What the deal does not prove
- It does not establish that any particular cloud service currently carries specific Activision games.
- It does not set a universal consumer price or guarantee that every provider can obtain the games on identical terms.
- It does not show a quantified increase in cloud-gaming competition; the CMA described the expected competitive protection, but no outcome statistic is established here.
- It does not mean Ubisoft’s consumer subscription automatically includes Activision titles.
To compare a cloud service that may offer Activision content, check its current licence, the exact games in its catalogue, whether access is a purchase or subscription, supported devices and operating systems, territorial availability, and current terms. The remedy itself does not answer those service-specific questions.
Bottom line on the “unexpected concession”
The surprise was not a token licensing promise. To overcome the CMA’s block, Microsoft changed who controlled a strategically important part of the acquisition: Ubisoft received Activision’s non-EEA cloud-streaming rights, with authority to license them to competing providers. After Microsoft supplied additional undertakings to make the arrangement enforceable, the CMA cleared the restructured UK transaction on 13 October 2023.
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