Microsoft’s proposal to acquire Activision Blizzard took a big step forward on Friday after the UK’s competition regulator provisionally accepted the tech company’s amendments to the $75bn takeover of the Call of Duty developer.
Last month, the two US-based companies submitted a new proposed merger agreement to the Competition and Markets Authority, aimed at mollifying the watchdog’s concerns that the takeover would harm competition.
The CMA, which blocked the merger in April, has been seen as the last big legal hurdle facing the world’s largest video games deal. Attempts by the US Federal Trade Commission to halt the transaction have failed in court, though the agency is still trying to appeal against the latest decision.