UK government body issues order that blocks Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard from ‘acquiring an interest’ in each other

Despite the multi-billion dollar deal between Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft slowly making forward movement in multiple smaller markets and potentially one very large market, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has added new restrictions on each company, as the government body put out an interim order last week that effectively requires both companies to get a permission slip from the CMA before the deal’s appellate process completes.

The order commands that both ActiBlizz and Microsoft cannot acquire any interest in either company, or any associated subsidiaries or interest holding enterprises, “[e]xcept with the prior written consent of the CMA.” The regulatory body argues that these new requirements are being put in place “for the purpose of preventing pre-emptive action” from either company.

As referenced before, the deal has been greenlit by multiple other countries including Japan, Ukraine, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Chile, while the EU’s approval or denial is still not officially confirmed and the US Federal Trade Commission is taking the matter to court in August.