Activision Blizzard Inc. stock ATVI is up about 5% in premarket trades after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it remains on course for completing its review of the video game company’s proposed acquisition by Microsoft Corp. MSFT by the end of April. “We have now provisionally concluded that the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in console gaming services because the cost to Microsoft of withholding Call of Duty from PlayStation would outweigh any gains from taking such action,” said Martin Coleman, chair of the independent panel of experts that’s reviewing the deal for the CMA. The CMA said new evidence “provisionally alleviates concerns” over gaming consoles in the U.K. Previously stated concerns about the deal affecting competition in cloud gaming remain under review, the CMA said. Microsoft stock fell 0.7%.
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