Microsoft Wants to Power Its Data Centers Using Nuclear Reactors

Generally speaking, videogame trailers are a promotional, sometimes informative type of thing: «Here's our new game, here's what it looks like, here's when it comes out,» and all that. But today we've got something different to share with you: A trailer celebrating Microsoft's $68 billion swallow-up of Activision Blizzard, which finally happened today following the long-awaited green light from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority.

The decision in Microsoft's legal case against the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a historic one, but for those who don't have a law degree, it can be hard to understand. The case surrounds the Microsoft Corporation's attempt to purchase the game developing and publishing powerhouse Activision Blizzard, Inc., an enormous conglomerate that counts,, and among its flagship properties. Microsoft first announced its plans to buy Activision Blizzard in January 2022, and the FTC's review began shortly thereafter. The legal battle began in earnest by June 2023, when the FTC filed its first documentation in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Microsoft has officially welcomed Activision Blizzard to Xbox following the Competition and Markets Authority’s approval of the acquisition in the UK. The deadline was originally for October 18th and is for $68.7 billion. With its completion, studios like Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Blizzard Entertainment, King and many more are now part of Xbox.

After initially blocking the deal, the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom has approved Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Following provisional approval last month, the authority has given the green light after the company announced the selling of cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard’s titles to Ubisoft.

The road seems clear for Microsoft to close its acquisition of Activision Blizzard by October 18th, though the company still requires approval from the Consumer Markets Authority (CMA). It was provisionally approved by the authority following some alterations last month. While the jury is still out, people “familiar with the matter” say the changes won’t require another probe from the European Commission, says Bloomberg.

The saga of Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has dragged on for nearly two years at this point, but after having cleared several major regulatory hurdles, it seems like the $69 billion deal is edging closer to being finalized.

Microsoft Corp. has “fundamentally altered” its combat goggles, changing them from a bulky helmet to a streamlined flip-up visor to improve the prospect that soldiers will embrace the $22 billion project, according to the Army's chief weapons buyer. “The technology might have worked perfectly, but I'd still had worries before about the ‘form-factor' and way soldiers wore them,” Assistant Army Secretary Doug Bush said in an interview.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told a US court on Monday that Google's dominance of the search engine market made it very hard for rivals to emerge, hitting out sharply at the business practices of his company's archrival. Nadella spoke to a courtroom in Washington DC, where lawyers from the US Department of Justice are attempting to persuade a federal judge that Google has illegally paid billions to Apple and others to preserve its monopoly. Microsoft's Bing has been trying since 2009 to build market share against Google, but Nadella said it could never compete against the search engine behemoth, largely due to its arrangements with Apple.

A five-year truce between rivals Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. came crashing down in 2020 when the tech giants found themselves at odds over their competing web-search businesses, according to testimony at the US government's antitrust trial against Google.

Microsoft Corp. weighed investing multiple billions in Apple Inc. in 2016 in order to secure a deal to make its Bing search engine the default on the Safari browser and better compete with Alphabet Inc.'s dominant Google search, a Microsoft vice president testified Thursday in court.

It’s been revealed that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recommenced its fight against Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision, after the trade watchdog lost its legal case attempting to halt the merger back in July.