Microsoft could potentially finalize their acquisition of Activision-Blizzard this week.
After the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was defeated in court, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) remains the only obstacle in the way of the deal. Now the CMA is coming up on the October 6 deadline to provide feedback for its provisional approval.
This means that barring any surprises from the CMA the deal should be free to proceed on October 6.
The FTC however has appealed the previous ruling by a federal court. The organization was not granted an injunction however, and thus has no authority to delay the deal during the appeal process.
Microsoft has made promises to encourage competition by keeping franchises like Call of Duty on competing consoles “with parity”. However the CMA’s alleged concerns have to do with cloud gaming and Microsoft’s growing relevance in that field.