A huge deal worth almost $70 billion ($68.9 billion to be exact) that was triumphantly heralded as the acquisition of an American company. video games Activision Blizzard from also American Microsoft, faces obstacles due to objections raised in the UK by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – the deal must be approved by the UK, the EU. and USA. This is reported by the BBC news agency in its publication. The proposed acquisition would lead Microsoft to acquire very popular titles in the electronic gaming space such as Call of Duty And candy crush.

But the regulator said it was concerned the deal would lead to reduced innovation and less choice for players in the fast-growing cloud gaming business. As expected, the Microsoft and Activision companies involved criticized the decision and said they would appeal.

“The report from the Competition and Markets Authority runs counter to the UK’s ambition to become an attractive country for building technology businesses,” an Activision spokesperson said. “The UK is clearly closed for business. We will actively work with Microsoft to reverse this decision on appeal,” he added. Similar were comments from Microsoft, stressing that the report’s findings are unfair to the citizens of the United Kingdom, who face an increasingly bleak economic outlook. “Global innovative companies, small and large, will now find that, contrary to what they say, the UK is off limits to them,” said Brad Smith, vice chairman and chairman of Microsoft.

The two businesses criticized the decision and announced they would appeal.

The latter, however, noted that his company is still set to acquire. “The CMA’s decision rejects a realistic course of action to address competition issues and discourages technological innovation and investment in the UK,” he said. According to him, Microsoft has already signed contracts, according to which Activision Blizzard games will be available on an additional 150 million devices. It is worth mentioning that one of the famous games of this company is the so-called Call of Duty, which over the past 20 years has sold over 400 million copies worldwide.

It is worth noting that in order for the transaction to be completed, it must be approved by regulatory authorities in the UK, US and EU. The Competition and Markets Authority is the first of three regulators to rule on this issue. And that means her own valuation could potentially derail the deal entirely. However, he stressed that the agreement is not expected to distort competition in the video console market.

Finally, Martin Coleman, who chaired an independent commission to investigate the UK regulator’s proposal, told the BBC it was vital to protect competition in the “evolving and exciting market” for cloud gaming.