Microsoft transferred Activision Blizzard’s cloud-streaming rights outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to Ubisoft as part of a revised acquisition deal. On 13 October 2023, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted related undertakings and allowed Microsoft to complete the acquisition without those non-EEA rights. The decision resolved the CMA’s UK cloud-gaming concerns; it was not an unconditional approval from every regulator.
What Microsoft gave Ubisoft
The CMA’s case record describes the transfer as covering Activision’s global cloud-streaming rights, except in the EEA. It applies to Activision PC and console games already released and to future releases during a 15-year period. The CMA also records a non-exclusive EEA licence for Ubisoft to sell, distribute, and sublicense entitlements to cloud-streaming versions of the games. (CMA case record)
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The duration needs a distinction: the CMA’s 15-year description concerns the window for future releases covered by the rights. Microsoft said the transferred rights themselves would be held “in perpetuity.” That is Microsoft’s characterization of the rights term, not a statement that future games released after the 15-year window are included. (Microsoft’s announcement; CMA case record)
Ubisoft’s role and Microsoft’s retained licences
Ubisoft could license the rights to cloud-gaming providers, including Microsoft, and choose how to commercialize them. The CMA described possible models such as buy-to-play, multigame subscriptions, or future models. Microsoft’s announcement said the arrangement involved a one-off payment and market-based wholesale pricing, with an option based on usage.
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Microsoft did not lose every ability to use or license the content. The CMA record says it received a limited, non-exclusive licence from Ubisoft to meet its European Commission commitments and certain existing third-party streaming agreements. The transfer was therefore designed to put the primary non-EEA cloud-streaming rights with Ubisoft while preserving these specified exceptions.
Portability beyond Windows
The CMA said Ubisoft could require Microsoft, for a fee, to adapt Activision titles for non-Windows operating systems such as Linux. During the provisional review, the CMA also cited support for game emulators as part of the revised package. These provisions addressed technical access as well as the right to license games.
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Why the CMA required a different deal
In its original investigation, the CMA concluded that the proposed full acquisition raised a substantial lessening of competition concern in UK cloud-gaming services. Its concern was that Microsoft could control important Activision content and use that control to favor its own service or withhold the games from competing services. This was the regulator’s assessment of the risks, not a measured finding that Microsoft had already taken either action. (CMA case record)
The CMA’s rationale for the revised deal was that an independent supplier would control the cloud-streaming rights and could license them through competing routes to market. Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said: “With the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, we’ve made sure Microsoft can’t have a stranglehold over this important and rapidly developing market.” That was Cardell’s description of the remedy’s intended effect, not a reported measurement of its results. (CMA final announcement)
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How the revised deal reached UK clearance
| Date | Decision or event |
|---|---|
| 26 April 2023 | The CMA prohibited the proposed full acquisition on cloud-gaming competition grounds, as recounted in its later decisions. |
| 21 August 2023 | Microsoft announced its proposed restructuring, including the transfer of cloud-streaming rights to Ubisoft. |
| 22 September 2023 | The CMA said the revised deal substantially addressed its concerns but identified limited residual risks around implementation, including the possibility that parts of the rights sale might be circumvented, terminated, or not enforced. It consulted on proposed undertakings. |
| 13 October 2023 | The CMA accepted undertakings to make the sale terms enforceable and help ensure proper implementation. It also granted Microsoft consent under its earlier Final Order to acquire Activision without the non-EEA cloud-streaming rights. The case is listed as closed. |
(CMA case record; CMA final announcement; CMA September statement)
At the provisional stage in September, CMA senior director Colin Raftery called it “a new and substantially different deal” that kept cloud distribution of the games with “a strong independent supplier, Ubisoft, rather than under the control of Microsoft.” That comment described the provisional view; the CMA’s final acceptance came in October. (CMA September statement)
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What the decision does—and does not—establish
The outcome establishes the terms of the UK review: Ubisoft received the specified non-EEA cloud-streaming rights, and the CMA accepted the revised arrangement with undertakings. The CMA materials describe licensing possibilities, not the current catalog, regional availability, pricing, or terms of any particular cloud service. A provider’s ability to seek a licence does not establish that it has one or that specific Activision games are available on it.
For anyone comparing services, check whether the provider has a current licence and the games you want, whether access is buy-to-play or subscription, which devices and operating systems it supports, where it operates, and its current price and terms. The CMA’s approval alone does not answer those practical questions.
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The decision was the conclusion of the CMA’s UK review, not a finding that every regulator approved the deal on identical terms. The CMA’s case record and final announcement document the UK decision and its scope.
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