Microsoft makes new deal to buy Call of Duty giant

6 minutes

Firm makes fresh offer to acquire Activision after the UK competition watchdog rejected its first bid.

Image of character from Call of Duty Modern Warfare II

Microsoft has submitted a new deal to buy Activision Blizzard after its original $69bn (£59bn) bid was rejected by the UK competition watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday that Microsoft's initial offer for the Call of Duty-maker had been blocked.

It will now review the new deal but said: "This is not a green light."

Under the new offer Microsoft won't buy the rights for Activision's existing or new games stored in the cloud.

The pledge, which will last 15 years, will not cover Activision's PC and console games in the European Economic Area.

Games stored in the so-called cloud allow players to buy content when they like, similar to a streaming service such as Netflix.

Instead of controlling all of Activision's games, which also include Candy Crush, Microsoft said the content would be sold to rival video game publisher Ubisoft.

Ubisoft can then supply Activision's content "to all cloud gaming service providers including to Microsoft itself".

Microsoft's takeover of Activision Blizzard would be the biggest of its kind in the history of the gaming industry.

Microsoft makes the Xbox gaming console and wants to buy Activision to add more titles to its Game Pass streaming service. This allows gamers to download content to their consoles and mobile phones.

However, it has split regulators in the UK, Europe and the US.

Rivals such as Sony have also objected to the deal, concerned that Microsoft could stop major games being available to its own PlayStation business.

Modern Warfare 2, the latest instalment in the Call of Duty series, made $1bn in its release weekend, and more than half of all copies sold in the UK were for PlayStation.

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