Microsoft also signed a fifth 10-year contract to acquire Activision  

On the final stretch to close the deal

In just a few days from now, the UK’s final decision on whether or not to allow Microsoft ‘s massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion is expected. As it seems, the American giant is making every effort to succeed and so it has just announced that it has signed its fifth 10-year contract to provide Xbox titles on other platforms.

In particular, as the UK’s CMA still has concerns about how much the acquisition will affect cloud gaming, Microsoft has now committed to providing all Xbox and Activision PC games to EE customers via cloud gaming. In case you don’t know EE is a British national mobile phone company and internet service provider. In fact, it is the second largest mobile network provider in the UK.

Below you can find the relevant post from the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer , who announced the new deal on Twitter.

For the record, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was announced last year in January, will be the biggest ever in the gaming industry, if it goes through. However, the deal is facing a lot of pressure from regulators in various countries, including the US, the UK and the EU.

One of the main issues regulators are looking at is how the deal will affect competition in cloud gaming. Microsoft has previously said it respects the role of regulators and is willing to address any concerns they may have about the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In this context, therefore, these movements are also made. The company has already signed deals with Boosteroid, Nvidia and Ubitus regarding the cloud, as well as a similar one with Nintendo.

Microsoft hopes these moves will help convince regulators to greenlight the acquisition, showing it is not trying to monopolize or limit access to its games. The company expects to close the deal by June 2023.

So far, the colossal takeover has been approved by Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Serbia, Chile and Japan. Finally, let us remind you that the CMA will have to give its final answer on the deal by April 26. At the same time, after the latest delay, the European Union is expected to announce its decision on May 22.