Sorry, but the drama over Xbox’s Activision purchase isn’t over yet

The UK’s surprise decision to block Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard gave us a temporary reprieve from the corporate skulduggery that has dominated the industry for the past year, but the bees’ nest will be poked again next week when The European Commission is expected to present its conclusion.

Stop us if you’ve heard it before, but Reuters Reports suggest the continent will green-light the deal, potentially leaving Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the United States’ Federal Trade Commission on its own. While the latter could be overcome in court, the former would present a significant thorn in the Redmond firm’s side – and as a result it has already attempted to pile on political pressure.

It should be noted, however, that just days before the CMA reached its conclusion, all the noise coming from respected financial news outlets suggested that the deal was about to go through, so whatever the European Commission reported about Going forward, this is not yet a formality, er, a block of blocks will effectively end this deal stone.

Of course, if the deal goes through on the continent it means Microsoft is more likely to follow through with its plans to appeal the CMA’s decision, which would potentially extend the drama to 2024 and beyond. can draw There’s a lot of money on the line here — Activision Blizzard will pocket $3 billion from Microsoft if the deal falls through — so we doubt the trillion-dollar tech company is going to go down quietly. And, if the European Commission does indeed pass the deal, Britain is determined as a matter of fact Being tested.