Activision rises as $69 billion merger with Microsoft clears fresh hurdles

Investing.com — Shares in Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:) rose in premarket U.S. trading on Monday as expectations grew that the video game maker’s $69 billion tie-up with Microsoft (NASDAQ:) may be close after a string of key announcements over the weekend.

On Sunday, Microsoft said it had signed a binding 10-year agreement to keep Activision’s lucrative “Call of Duty” title on Sony’s (TYO:) (NYSE:) PlayStation console, echoing a similar reported deal with rival Nintendo (TYO:).

The license signals an end to an 18-month legal battle between Microsoft and Japan’s Sony, which has stood in opposition to the U.S. software giant’s mega-merger with Activision. Sony had previously argued that Microsoft could use the acquisition to bring “Call of Duty” exclusively to its own Xbox console and other platforms, effectively shutting out its competitors.

Microsoft has rebuked the claims, saying it wants Activision’s games to remain widely available. In a tweet on Sunday, Microsoft Gaming Chief Executive Phil Spencer noted that the company looks forward “to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.”

The move clears a fresh hurdle facing Microsoft’s buyout of Activision, which would be the largest in the history of the video game industry.

Last week, a federal court in San Francisco also rejected a request from the Federal Trade Commission for an injunction preventing the transaction from being finalized. Two subsequent FTC appeals were also denied.

Meanwhile, the U.K.’s antitrust regulator, which blocked the merger in April, has said it will now take six weeks to give “full and proper consideration” to a “detailed and complex” submission from Microsoft.