While Microsoft was able to clear matters in court with the Federal Trade Commission's fruitless efforts to block the $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, which ended up getting struck down in court, matters remain far from clear. The United Kingdom's Commissions and Marketing Authority is still an obstacle, as they are a crucial holdout, citing unfair practices in cloud gaming.

In efforts to meet the standards of the regulators and bring the deal to a close, Microsoft has proposed an offer to sell Activision's cloud gaming services to rival publisher/developer Ubisoft, effective immediately following the merger.

"To address the concerns about the impact of the proposed acquisition on cloud game streaming raised by the UK Competition and Markets Authority, we are restructuring the transaction to acquire a narrower set of rights," Microsoft CEO Brad Smith states in a press release. "This includes executing an agreement effective at the closing of our merger that transfers the cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment SA, a leading global game publisher. The rights will be in perpetuity.

Under the restructured transaction, Microsoft will not be in a position either to release Activision Blizzard games exclusively on its own cloud streaming service – Xbox Cloud Gaming – or to exclusively control the licensing terms of Activision Blizzard games for rival services."

The Ubisoft+ lineup is expanding!

We're excited to announce a new agreement that will bring Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft+ via streaming upon the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard!

We’ll also be licensing the games to a range of cloud streaming… pic.twitter.com/sZTnEFJedC

— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) August 22, 2023

This changing of the deal makes Ubisoft an interesting pillar in the video game market for the foreseeable future. Under this arrangement, Activision Blizzard games like Modern Warfare II will eventually be added to Ubisoft+, which already includes games like Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, and Rainbow Six: Siege. Ubisoft will be in position to license out games to other services, and can pay a fee to Microsoft to bring games to other PC operating systems. 

The UK CMA will review the arrangements of this proposal before giving the okay on it.