UK blocks Microsoft's $69-bn Activision takeover

Britain on Wednesday blocked Microsoft’s $69-billion takeover of US video game giant Activision Blizzard, arguing it would harm competition in cloud gaming and leaving the blockbuster deal in peril.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority prevented the deal “over concerns… (it) would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market, leading to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come”, the CMA said in a final decision on its long-running probe.