It’s been almost two years since Microsoft announced they came into agreement to acquire Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush, Overwatch, StarCraft, and many others. Microsoft has been through a battle with the FTC and on July 11, 2023, they won that battle making this acquisition more likely to happen, but the only thing in the way was the United Kingdom with the CMA.

Recently, the CMA softened its pushback on the acquisition after Microsoft announced they’ll bring Activision Blizzard Games to Ubisoft+ via a new Cloud agreement.

Tom Warren from The Verge has reported Microsoft is planning to finalize the $68.7 billion acquisition next week on October 13, 2023, according to sources close to the outlet and Microsoft. The date could very well change since it all depends on the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority, says Tom.

There’s a deadline for the CMA that expires today which the outcome would let Microsoft proceed with the acquisition. A final decision from the CMA is expected next week when the merger could be finalized.

The October 13 date would be five days earlier than the deal’s deadline that Microsoft and Activision extended in the Summer to be on October 18, 2023.

Source: The Verge