Microsoft Microsoft has just completed acquiring Activision

[Raine]

On a Friday the 13th in October. The beasties are out in force across the internet!

...Also yes this is legitimately a not great thing for a variety of reasons. But it's here and there's no going back, so, enjoy. Or something.

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Welcoming the Legendary Teams at Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox - Xbox Wire

Today we welcome the teams at Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox. It's a good day to play.

news.xbox.com

A new chapter

Combining with Microsoft will enable us to deliver more fun, more joy, and more connection to more players, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick writes.

newsroom.activisionblizzard.com

 

[Kat]

Oh man, last I heard, this was still stuck in regulatory approvals and some agencies were refusing to approve it. I guess they managed it somehow.

 

[Raine]

Oh man, last I heard, this was still stuck in regulatory approvals and some agencies were refusing to approve it. I guess they managed it somehow.

Yeah, the UK regulatory board (CMA) was almost exclusively what was holding it up. They decided to approve it yesterday, and within I want to say 4 hours all of this stuff from Microsoft and Activision dropped, the final couple formalities were taken care of, and... boom.

I've heard the new(-ish) head of the FTC is super against monopolies (which is good, and the point) and wanted to appeal/revisit this and others. And a search indicates their appeal is scheduled for Dec 6th and that they do still intend to pursue this, so we'll see. I wouldn't expect anything to come of it though.

U.S. antitrust enforcer says pressing on with fight against Microsoft/Activision deal

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Friday it remained focused on its appeal opposing Xbox maker Microsoft's now-closed $69 billion deal to buy Activision but would "assess" the company's agreement with Ubisoft .

www.reuters.com