British CMA warns that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard may face a new merger investigation

CTOnews.com, July 13, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been cautious about Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. After Microsoft won the lawsuit from FTC in the United States, CMA said it would suspend any prosecution in the UK and both sides were willing to negotiate.

However, in a statement provided to The Verge by CMA media official Billy Proudlock, CMA stressed that "their negotiations with Microsoft are still at an early stage and Microsoft's proposal may usher in a new merger investigation."

After the release of the final report, the merging party has no opportunity to propose new remedies, but can choose to restructure the transaction, which will also lead to a new merger investigation. Microsoft and Activision Storm are currently considering how to modify the deal, on which CMA will contact them, but the negotiations are still at an early stage and follow-up arrangements need to be decided at an appropriate time. Although both sides have now asked Microsoft to suspend the appeal to allow these negotiations to proceed, the decision made by CMA in its final report still stands.

In addition, Microsoft and CMA have agreed to a "small divestiture" to solve the problem of cloud games, according to CNBC.

After inquiry, CTOnews.com learned that CNBC has now updated the content of the article, changing the small-scale divestiture into "Microsoft proposed divestiture", but it is not clear whether Microsoft's request has been accepted, and the specific content involved in the divestiture is not clear, which may be related to Xbox cloud gaming services in the region.