Britain has extended the investigation into the Microsoft and Activision contract by 6 weeks

The controversy over whether regulatory bodies will approve Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard is set to take a little longer than expected. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will review Microsoft’s new arguments for another 6 weeks, citing the lack of time.

According to AndroidBritain’s final decision on the Microsoft and Activision contract will be announced no later than August 29 (September 7). However, CMA is trying to announce the final decision sooner.

Microsoft announced in early 2022 that it will acquire Activision by paying $95 per share (a total of $68.7 billion). Last fall, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into the deal and eventually said that, according to its estimates, Activision’s takeover would significantly reduce competition in the cloud gaming services market.

The CMA’s new statement comes as Microsoft and the regulator said they were suspending any legal action against each other to allow for further negotiations.

Microsoft says it still disagrees with the CMA’s arguments, but in the public interest it has decided to sit down with the regulatory body. On the other hand, the CMA has warned that the negotiations are in the early stages and new investigations may be launched.

With the green light from the US, the EU and China, the UK is now the only government to take a stand against the Microsoft-Activivision deal. Some reports have suggested that Microsoft may finalize the deal by ignoring the UK.