The "Call of Duty" publisher said the companies
also agreed to increase the deal termination fee to $3.5 billion from $3
billion if it does not close by August 29. The fee will further rise to $4.5
billion after September 15.
The two U.S. companies originally agreed to close the deal
by July 18, but U.S. regulatory efforts to block the takeover and Britain's
push to restructure it have delayed the close.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) bid to temporarily
stop the deal was denied twice, first by a federal judge and then by an appeals
court.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had
earlier decided to block the deal, but reversed course last week and extended its
deadline for a final ruling to August 29 after the U.S. court ruling left
Britain alone in opposition.
Regulators in both countries have varying concerns over the
deal.
The FTC said the deal could let Microsoft degrade
Activision's game quality or player experience on rival consoles like Nintendo
and Sony Group's PlayStation, as well as manipulate pricing or change terms or
timing of access to Activision content.
The CMA questioned whether the deal could hinder competition
in the cloud gaming industry, where users can play on any device using
subscriptions such as the Xbox Game Pass that offer a wide selection of games.
Microsoft responded to these concerns by offering 10-year
licensing deals to rivals after the deal closes. The latest was an agreement
with Sony Group to keep "Call of Duty" on PlayStation, the biggest
competitor to Microsoft's Xbox. © Reuters
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