The headline’s “$5.9B King deal” misstates the transaction. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced a proposed $68.7 billion, all-cash acquisition of Activision Blizzard at $95 per share; King was part of Activision Blizzard, not the standalone target. The deal brought Activision, Blizzard and King into the same proposed acquisition—and drew regulatory scrutiny chiefly over cloud-game streaming.
What did Microsoft announce it would buy?
Microsoft’s January 18, 2022 announcement valued its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard at $68.7 billion, including Activision Blizzard’s net cash, and offered $95 per share in cash. The company described the purchase as spanning Activision, Blizzard and King, with franchises including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and Candy Crush.
That structure matters: King and Candy Crush were included within Activision Blizzard’s portfolio. Microsoft did not announce a separate $5.9 billion purchase of King in the cited transaction announcement.
Microsoft’s stated strategy was a forecast, not an outcome
Microsoft said the acquisition would expand its gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud, and described ambitions involving Game Pass and mobile gaming. Those were the buyer’s strategic rationale at announcement time. They do not, on their own, establish that prices fell, catalogs grew, or competition improved after the deal.
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Why did regulators focus on cloud gaming?
Cloud game streaming lets players access games through a streaming service rather than relying only on a game installed and run locally. Regulators examined whether control of popular games could give Microsoft the ability or incentive to disadvantage competing streaming services.
The European Commission’s May 15, 2023 decision said its investigation found a risk that Microsoft could harm competition in cloud streaming if it made Activision games exclusive to Game Pass Ultimate and withheld them from rival cloud providers. The Commission also examined the possibility of strengthening Microsoft’s position in Windows. It did not find comparable harm to rival consoles or multi-game subscription services in its investigation.
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A small market share did not settle the question
The Commission put cloud game streaming at around 1% of worldwide game distribution in 2022. That is a dated estimate for that year, not a current market-share figure. The Commission described streaming as a limited but potentially important segment, with growth depending in part on broader game catalogs and high-speed internet. Regulators were therefore assessing both the segment’s size at the time and its possible competitive significance—not claiming that streaming already dominated gaming.
How did the EU and UK remedies differ?
The European Commission conditionally approved the transaction on May 15, 2023, after Microsoft offered commitments for cloud streaming in the European Economic Area (EEA). The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) first prohibited the original proposal, then consented on October 13, 2023, to a revised structure involving Activision’s cloud rights and Ubisoft. These were different remedies, with distinct geographic scopes and mechanisms.
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| Comparison | European Commission (May 15, 2023) | UK CMA revised deal (October 13, 2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory action | Conditional approval based on Microsoft’s commitments. | Consent to acquire under a revised structure; the CMA accepted undertakings in lieu of a Phase 2 reference. |
| Geography and rights | EEA cloud-streaming licenses for Activision games. | Activision’s non-EEA cloud-streaming rights were excluded from Microsoft’s acquisition and assigned to Ubisoft. Ubisoft also received a non-exclusive license for EEA cloud gaming rights. |
| Who could benefit | EEA consumers who had licensed or subscribed to Activision games could stream them through a cloud service of their choice; corresponding licenses were provided for cloud providers serving EEA gamers. | Ubisoft received the specified rights outside the EEA and a non-exclusive EEA license to support streaming and sublicensing there. |
| Mechanism and duration | Licensing commitments described by the Commission as lasting 10 years. | A transfer of non-EEA rights to Ubisoft for current and future Activision PC and console games released during the next 15 years; the deal also included a non-exclusive EEA license. |
| Stated competition issue | Risk that Microsoft could make Activision games exclusive to Game Pass Ultimate and withhold them from rival cloud-streaming providers. | The original inquiry’s concerns centered on cloud gaming. The CMA had provisionally concluded that the proposal would not substantially lessen competition in UK console gaming. |
The remedies should not be collapsed into a single worldwide license. The Commission’s commitment was a 10-year EEA licensing arrangement. Under the UK revised deal, non-EEA cloud rights were assigned to Ubisoft for the specified 15-year release window, alongside a non-exclusive EEA license.
What the EU commitments required
The Commission said EEA consumers who had licensed or subscribed to Activision games would be able to stream them through a cloud service of their choice. Cloud providers serving EEA gamers also received corresponding licenses. An independent trustee was to monitor implementation. In announcing its conditional approval, then Executive Vice-President for competition policy Margrethe Vestager characterized the commitments as enabling Activision games to be streamed through cloud services and widening consumer access. That was the Commission’s account of the remedy, not independent evidence of its later effects.
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What changed in the UK proposal
On April 26, 2023, the CMA prohibited Microsoft’s original proposal, with concerns centered on cloud gaming. Microsoft later submitted a revised transaction for UK review: Activision’s global cloud-streaming rights outside the EEA for current and future PC and console games released during the next 15 years would be transferred to Ubisoft immediately before completion. Ubisoft also received a non-exclusive license to EEA cloud gaming rights so it could support streaming and sublicensing there. The CMA consented to that revised structure on October 13, 2023.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can—and can’t—be concluded about the deal’s effect on gaming?
The transaction’s scale and the regulators’ remedies show why the deal mattered beyond a single franchise: it involved mobile, PC and console properties as well as cloud-streaming rights. But the announcement’s strategic predictions and the regulators’ competition assessments are not proof of what players ultimately experienced.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches- Established by the cited records: Microsoft announced a $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard; King was included in that target; and the EU and UK set different conditions addressing cloud-game streaming.
- Not established by those records: current availability of Activision games on particular services, present market shares, realized changes in prices or innovation, or the deal’s subsequent commercial performance.
Those consumer outcomes require current evidence beyond the announcement and regulatory decisions. The defensible takeaway is narrower: cloud streaming was the central competition concern in the EU and UK reviews, and the remedies were designed around access to Activision games by rival streaming services—not a finding that all gaming markets would be transformed.
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