Microsoft has completed its $68.7 billion takeover of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard following the deal’s approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

The announcement was made on Friday, hours after the CMA said that the pair’s revised deal adequately addressed concerns around monopolisation of cloud gaming.

In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Microsoft Gaming chief exec Phil Spencer said "Today is a good day to play."

Spencer, who oversees Microsoft’s entire gaming business, will absorb the role of Activision Blizzard chief executive officer, while Activison’s boss Bobby Kotick will stay on to manage the transition until the end of 2023.

The executive expanded on his thoughts in a blog post, adding: “As one team, we’ll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people. We’ll do this in a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best work, where all people are welcome, and is centred on our ongoing commitment of Gaming for Everyone.

“Whether you play on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, you are welcome here – and will remain welcome, even if Xbox isn’t where you play your favourite franchise. Because when everyone plays, we all win. We believe our news today will unlock a world of possibilities for more ways to play.”

The CMA – the last hold out after the US Federal Trade Commission failed to block the deal – had argued that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard would give Microsoft, which already is the market leader in cloud gaming, an unassailable market lead due to the popularity of games from the Call of Duty company.

In August, the CMA and Microsoft broke through their impasse with Activision agreeing a deal to sell its streaming rights to France’s Ubisoft and Microsoft offering remedies to ensure the terms of the sale were enforceable by the regulator. This new deal was given provisional clearance while the CMA looked into it ahead of the extended 18 October deadline to close.

Now, less than a week from that deadline, the CMA gave the deal its blessing and described Microsoft’s concession as “a gamechanger that will promote competition.”

In its statement approving the takeover, the CMA concluded that: “The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers.”

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