Xbox maker Microsoft closed its $69 billion deal for "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard on Friday after Britain's antitrust regulator cleared the restructured deal. In August, Activision agreed to sell its non-European streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment to get the biggest deal yet in video-gaming past Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The company had in July extended the deadline to close the deal by October 18. Here is a snapshot of key events in the Microsoft-Activision saga: Jan 18, 2022: Microsoft says it is buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion Feb 1, 2022 : Bloomberg News reports that FTC would handle the review of the deal March 21, 2022: FTC has sought additional data from Activision and Microsoft related to the antitrust 2022 review of their deal, the game developer says April 28, 2022: Activision Blizzard shareholders approve Microsoft's proposal to buy the "Call of Duty" maker July 6, 2022: Britain's antitrust watchdog starts an investigation into the deal Sept 1, 2022: Britain's antitrust regulator says the deal could harm competition in gaming consoles, subscription services and cloud gaming, and it needs to be investigated in depth Sept 7, 2022: Sony Group Corp says the offer by Microsoft to keep the "Call of Duty" series on PlayStation for a limited time is "inadequate" Sept 15, 2022: Britain's antitrust watchdog says it would launch an in-depth probe into the deal Sept 30, 2022: EU antitrust regulators set Nov. 8 deadline to decide on the deal Oct 12, 2022: Microsoft says Britain's competition regulator had relied on objections from Sony in 2022 referring the deal to an in-depth inquiry Dec 8, 2022: The Biden administration moves to block Microsoft-Activision deal Dec 22, 2022: Microsoft says the deal would benefit gamers and gaming companies: Feb 8, 2023: Britain takes aim at the deal, saying it could harm gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and Sony's PlayStation Feb 21, 2023: Microsoft strikes 10-year deal to bring "Call of Duty" and other Activision games to Nvidia Corp's gaming platform March 1, 2023: EU regulators extend the deadline for the deal to April 25, 2023 March 8, 2023: Microsoft tells UK it will license "Call of Duty" to Sony for 10 years March 28, 2023: Japan's antitrust watchdog says the deal will not harm competition April 26, 2023: UK blocks Microsoft-Activision deal over cloud gaming concerns May 15, 2023: Microsoft wins EU antitrust approval for the deal May 24, 2023: Microsoft appeals against UK block on the deal June 12, 2023: US FTC asks court to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision June 13, 2023: A US judge grants FTC's request to temporarily block the acquisition July 11, 2023: A US judge turns down FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily stop the deal July 12, 2023: Britain's antitrust regulator says a restructured deal could satisfy its concerns, subject to a new investigation July 13, 2023: U.S. FTC asks an appeals court to temporarily stop Microsoft from closing the deal, hours after a federal judge rejected a similar request July 14, 2023: Britain's antitrust regulator extends its final deadline to August 29 after receiving a "detailed and complex" new proposal from Microsoft that claimed material changes in circumstance July 15, 2023: A U.S. appeals court rejects the FTC's request to pause Microsoft's purchase of Activision July 16, 2023: Microsoft signs agreement to keep "Call of Duty" on PlayStation July 17, 2023: Microsoft's appeal against Britain's block on its takeover of Activision was formally paused July 19, 2023: Activision, Microsoft extend deal deadline by three months to Oct. 18 to secure UK approval; urge U.S. to drop case against deal before internal FTC judge July 20, 2023: U.S. FTC official withdraws case against Microsoft-Activision deal before internal agency judge July 21, 2023: Microsoft-Activision deal back in hands of UK regulator after court pauses appeal July 31, 2023: UK regulator seeks public input on Microsoft-Activision deal Aug 22, 2023: Activision will sell its non-European streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment 2023 to get Microsoft deal past British regulators Sept 22, 2023: Microsoft's restructured acquisition of Activision "opens the door" to the deal being cleared, CMA says. The software giant has offered remedies for "residual concerns" that CMA has related to certain provisions of the deal, which the regulator is consulting on before arriving at a final decision. Oct 13, 2023: Microsoft closed its $69 billion deal for Activision Blizzard after CMA cleared the acquisition, saying the restructured deal substantially addressed its earlier concerns.
