Originally announced earlier this year, the closing of Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard appears to be stalling, riddled with ongoing issues that threaten to derail it. So although the shareholders of Activision Blizzard itself were in favor of the acquisition, both Microsoft itself and other external agents still have some doubts.

And he was the new participant in adding obstacles to this agreement the UK Competition and Markets Authority (or CMA).which, according to CNBC, opened a new investigation into the operation, setting up one of the first major antitrust investigations.

According to this research this deal could have a strong (negative) impact on the video game industry for supplying major franchises such as Call of Duty, Candy Crush and Warcraft to one of the largest technology companies in the world, for which the authority responsible for markets and competition will analyze the situation «consider whether the agreement may harm competition and lead to worse outcomes for consumers, such as higher prices, lower quality or reduced choice«. While we’ve seen this type of investigation on other occasions, such as the purchase of Bethesda by Microsoft itself, each new acquisition adds another argument.

That, The CMA set the deadline for the final decision on September 1, although it has announced that it will accept comments from stakeholders, with consultations open until 20 July. Microsoft was quite positive, assuring that they would cooperate fully, and sent a message that “we continue to believe that the deal will close in fiscal 2023 as originally expected.” However, analysts are noticeably more skeptical on the regulators’ chances of approving the deal.