FILE -- The Activision Blizzard Booth is shown on June 13, 2013 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. British antitrust regulators scrutinizing Microsoft's blockbuster purchase of videogame maker Activision Blizzard narrowed their investigation on Friday, March 24, 2023 by dropping concerns that the deal would hurt the console gaming market. AP Photo Jae C. Hong, File ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON AP - British antitrust regulators have dropped concerns that Microsoft's blockbuster purchase of videogame maker Activision Blizzard would hurt the console gaming market, narrowing the scope of their investigation.
The competition and markets authority said it no longer believes that the $69 billion deal will result in a much lessening of competition for console games in the U.K. and an update to provisional findings issued last month based on new evidence.
The deal is expected to be the biggest in the history of the tech industry. It faces stiff opposition from rival Sony and is being examined by regulators in Europe and the U.S. over fears that it would give Microsoft control of popular game franchises like Call of Duty.
The deal would stifle competition for both cloud and console gaming, as the U.K. watchdog said last month.
The watchdog said it would not be commercially beneficial for Microsoft to make Call of Duty exclusive to its Xbox console based on the new evidence, including data that gives better insight into videogamers' purchasing behavior. That's the opposite of its original analysis, which indicated that it would be profitable to block the game from competing consoles like Sony's PlayStation.
Martin Coleman, chair of the CMA's independent expert panel, said in a press release that Microsoft's withholding Call of Duty from PlayStation would outweigh any gains from taking such action.
The report will be released on April 26 and the watchdog is still investigating the deal's impact on the cloud computing market.
Microsoft said it would work with the watchdog to resolve any outstanding concerns.