Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Addresses Plans To Stick Around After Microsoft's Acquisition

While Microsoft sent its final submission to the Consumer Markets Authority in the UK regarding its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, another regular has approved the deal. New Zealand’s Commerce Commission announced its approval, noting its focus on “the importance of Activision games (such as Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft) to New Zealand gamers.”

Microsoft has sent a final report to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in an effort to persuade the watchdog to overturn its block on the US tech giant's plan to acquire Activision Blizzard.

With the US Federal Trade Commission’s request for an injunction on the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard denied, approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the only obstacle left. The latter initially denied the deal, with an appeal set to occur on July 28th, but the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) provided two months for both parties to resolve the same.

Following victories over the FTC in the United States and other approvals from regulatory bodies in the EU and other locations, Microsoft is trying to convince the UK Competition and Markets Authority ( CMA ) to change its mind and approve the company’s deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. In an unusual step, the CMA is requesting new comments on the deal and will consider them ahead of its final order due next month.

Microsoft has announced the Games with Gold lineup for August 2023, the final set of games to launch under the Games With Gold banner before the promotion comes to an end in September.

Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal is back in the hands of Britain's antitrust regulator after an appeals court granted an adjournment, and the grounds for why the UK should reconsider its block on the US software giant's takeover were published.

After recent court losses preventing the agency from preventing Microsoft’s deal to acquire Activision Blizzard from closing, the United States Federal Trade Commission has suspended its internal administrative challenge to the deal. A hearing was set to begin in early August if the process were to continue at this time.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has commented on Microsoft's takeover bid of Activision Blizzard, stating it validates Ubisoft's decision to expand into mobile gaming.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has said Microsoft’s bid to acquire Activision Blizzard can be viewed as a sign that Ubisoft is on the right track with its current business strategy.

The Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger is closer than ever to fruition. Earlier this week, the US Supreme Court has denied, in the person of Justice Elena Kagan, the request filed by a group of gamers for an emergency injunction to block the deal. Not that such a request was reasonably likely to be granted, especially after the Federal Trade Commission was turned down.

The US Federal Trade Commission has withdrawn its proceedings against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to IGN, the FTC responded to Microsoft’s motion to withdraw from the recent proceedings with no objections, essentially giving Microsoft the green light to go ahead with its $69 billion acquisition.

As reported in The Verge, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suspending its administrative challenge to Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This comes after the FTC's request for emergency relief was denied in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and not long after a motion Microsoft and Activision Blizzard filed earlier to get the FTC from trying to block their proposed merger.