Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard stunned the industry when it was announced, and since the question has been whether or not it would actually go through, and be made official.It’s been through more the ringer already, however the UK competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has begun a second phase of its investigation, and with that provided a deadline of March 1, 2023 to make a decision.That decision being that if it finds this acquisition results in an anti-competitive outcome, the group will “decide whether action should be taken by it, or by others, to remedy, mitigate, or prevent the substantial lessening of competition.”And even if those steps to mitigate the deal are taken, the CMA could then still block the deal if it finds those steps to be insufficient.So while the question of whether or not this deal will go through has usually landed on that it will, the idea that we could see the largest merger in gaming history dismantled before it could come to fruition feels a little more real.Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer have been going back and forth in the press regarding the deal, and it’s clear that PlayStation won’t let it go through without a fight.Whatever the outcome, the precedent set will be extremely significant.Source – [VGC]
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