LONDON Britain's competition regulators said Microsoft's 69 billion purchase of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard would not harm competition in gaming consoles, removing a major obstacle to the deal.
The Competition and Markets Authority said on Friday that it would not make financial sense for Microsoft to make Call of Duty exclusive to its Xbox console, and it would still have an incentive to make the game available on PlayStation.
The regulator said it was still looking at the impact of the deal on the cloud gaming market.
The takeover, the biggest ever in gaming, is subject to the scrutiny of regulators in the United States and Europe.
The CMA had noted that Activision's flagship Call of Duty franchise was important in driving competition between consoles, and it worried that Microsoft could benefit by making the game exclusive to Xbox, or only available on PlayStation under materially worse conditions.
Microsoft has offered Sony a license deal to address those concerns.
The CMA said that the overall investigation was on course for completion by the April 26 deadline, because of our provisional view that this deal raises concerns in the cloud gaming market.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said they look forward to working with the CMA to resolve any outstanding concerns.