Why can't Microsoft buy Blizzard?

Due to the scale of the deal, regulators around the world feared that this acquisition may hurt competition and give Microsoft — which already owns Xbox — too much power in the gaming market. Fears centred around the potential effect on market share in the console gaming market.
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Why was Microsoft blocked from buying Blizzard?

The C.M.A. initially blocked the deal because, it said, a merger between the maker of a top-selling console with the publisher of hit games threatened to stunt the development of the emerging area of cloud gaming technology.
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Why hasn t Microsoft bought Blizzard yet?

The acquisition required 20 months of battles with regulators in the UK and US, but Microsoft has closed its Activision Blizzard deal after defeating the Federal Trade Commission in a US federal court and restructuring the deal to appease the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK. “We love gaming.
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Can Microsoft buy Activision without CMA approval?

The CMA granted Microsoft a preliminary approval last month and now, a few weeks later, the U.K. regulatory agency has finally given Microsoft the full approval it needs. With the CMA's approval, Microsoft now has everything it needs to close the deal and make Activision Blizzard a part of Xbox's first-party umbrella.
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Can Microsoft close the Activision deal?

Microsoft closed its $69 billion deal for Activision Blizzard after CMA cleared the acquisition, saying the restructured deal substantially addressed its earlier concerns.
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What Will Microsoft Do If It Can't Buy Activision?

What are the consequences of Microsoft buying Activision?

Following this acquisition, Microsoft will own more gaming studios, the availability of Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard franchises will shift, and unionization efforts within Activision Blizzard could gain a bit more ground.
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What happens now that Microsoft bought Activision?

And by acquiring Activision Blizzard's suite of PC games, Microsoft will become more competitive with the Epic Games Store and Valve's Steam, as it will have both the Microsoft Store and Battle.net.
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Why did Microsoft not buy Activision?

The reason the purchase was bogged down by legal action is competition. By acquiring Activision Blizzard, critics argued, Microsoft's gaming division would simply own too much of the industry, unfairly limiting its competitors and ultimately harming consumers.
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Did the FTC approve the Activision deal?

Microsoft closes $69 billion Activision-Blizzard deal, defeats antitrust watchdog FTC | Fortune.
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Why would Microsoft acquire Activision?

As Singh put it, in one shot, the Activision purchase enables Microsoft to shorten time-to-market with new gaming products, expand its reach, and deepen its penetration in those markets.
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What happens if Microsoft buys Blizzard?

Acquiring Activision Blizzard gives Microsoft access to multi-million dollar IPs such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, and WarCraft franchises, as well as studios such as Treyarch and Infinity Ward, at a time when video game IP is proving highly valuable — just see the success of HBO's The Last of Us adaptation.
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Is Microsoft actually buying Activision Blizzard?

The deal was concluded on October 13, 2023, with the total cost of the acquisition amounting to $75.4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft brought Activision Blizzard under its Microsoft Gaming business unit as a sibling division to Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax Media.
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Did Xbox just buy Blizzard?

Call of Duty to Game Pass, yes, but so much more. It's official: Microsoft has bought Activision Blizzard for an incredible $69 billion. It's the biggest buyout in video game history, and in one fell swoop expands Xbox's first-party offering to encompass everything from Call of Duty to World of Warcraft.
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Can close its $75 billion buy of Activision Blizzard judge rules?

can close its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, delivering a major setback to the Biden administration's attempt to rein in big mergers.
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Are now gamers suing to stop Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard?

(Reuters) - Video game players suing Microsoft Corp over its $69 billion bid to buy "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard Inc have asked a U.S. judge to deny the technology giant's effort to pause the consumer antitrust lawsuit pending the resolution of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's legal challenge to the deal ...
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Will Microsoft be blocked from buying Activision?

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard earned a big win in court today, as a federal judge ruled that the Federal Trade Commission cannot block the $68.7 billion merger.
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Who is suing Microsoft?

Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a lawsuit brought against multinational technology corporation Microsoft and video game holding company Activision Blizzard in 2022.
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Who is suing Activision?

Professional gamers Hector “H3cz” Rodriguez and Seth “Scump” Abner, in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in California federal court, allege that the gaming giant violates antitrust laws by preventing “would-be competitors from entering the market” and coercing players and team owners into acquiescing to “extortionate ...
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Has anyone sued Activision?

California's civil rights agency sued Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard in July 2021, alleging that female employees faced constant sexual harassment, that few women were named to leadership roles and that when they were, they earned less salary, incentive pay and total compensation than male peers.
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What happens if Xbox buys Activision?

If approved, the Xbox Activision deal would bring video game developers like Beenox, Blizzard Entertainment, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, Treyarch, and others under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella.
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Is Microsoft buying Activision a good thing?

While there are many great Xbox Series X|S exclusives, acquiring Activision/Blizzard represents a drastic expansion of the exclusive games Xbox could offer. And typically, this is something that PlayStation is notoriously better at doing than Xbox.
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Can the CMA block Activision merger?

Why the CMA blocked the Microsoft-Activision deal. The U.K. CMA efficiently blocked the acquisition in April, saying the deal raises competition concerns in the nascent cloud gaming market.
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Why did Xbox buy Activision?

Why did Microsoft buy Activision Blizzard in 2022? Because They can. Going after a big publisher like Activision is an attempt to bolster its exclusive lineup of games designed to run on both Xbox game consoles and PCs. Exclusives and valuable IPs are critical to selling a console, and Microsoft never had these.
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Will Blizzard games be on Game Pass?

There will be even more to play as we begin to fulfill our commitment to offer Activision and Blizzard games with Game Pass, both new releases and classic games from its legendary catalog. We're excited to bring more of the biggest games to our 34M XGP subscribers.
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Is Microsoft paying cash for Activision?

Microsoft valued the Activision deal at $68.7 billion when it announced the acquisition in early 2022, “inclusive of Activision Blizzard's net cash,” though Microsoft agreed to pay $95 in cash for each share of the game-maker, closer to $75 billion. Started in 1979 by former Atari Inc.
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