Microsoft’s Activision acquisition saga could last years

The Microsoft and Activision acquisition saga has been one of the longest and most drawn-out chronicles that the gaming industry has ever seen.

Having hit many speed bumps on the way to signing off on the $69 billion merger, Microsoft was just struck with the bad news that it won't be getting control of the Call of Duty franchise any time soon, as the CMA blocked the deal.

But, this is by no means the end of the story. Just recently, Microsoft's statements about the UK CMA prompted a response from the Prime Minister, and now this back-and-forth could be set to go on for another decade.

CMA gives Microsoft deadlines to fix merger wrongs

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After what already felt like a decade, the CMA's rejection of the Microsoft x Activision Blizzard King deal came as quite a surprise to most people, who thought the Xbox owners had done enough bargaining to convince the governing bodies that the deal wouldn't create a monopoly.

However, after mocking the Nintendo deal and pointing out that the proposed 10-year Sony deal would undercut them by 30%, the CMA left the door open to an appeal. There's another chance for the merger to happen again in the future.

The CMA has now given Activision a 12-week period (with the option to extend by a further six weeks) to fix the remedies outlined in their report, should they want to launch an appeal. Otherwise, the green team could face a whopping ten-year wait to try again.

Microsoft's Activision deal could take ten more years to be accepted

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The CMA claim the Xbox owners would have to wait until 2033 to try and buy Activision and its assets again, should they not appeal the decision.

"Microsoft would be prohibited from subsequently acquiring the assets or shares of Activision or acquiring any material influence over them. Our Merger Remedies Guidance states that the CMA will normally limit this prohibition to a period of ten years," said the CMA's final reading in the verdict report.

To put that into perspective, a decade ago, Activision was rolling out Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Overwatch was still a year from being announced/three years off being released...

It seems like Microsoft has quite a lot of concessions to make if it wants to settle the Activision deal, otherwise, it's set to be one heck of a long journey.