Activision Blizzard makes popular games like "Call of Duty".

The ever-evolving game is the tech giant's bid to lock players into its Xbox subscription service after some eye-poppingly enormous investments in the gaming sector, which is worth $200 billion globally. A universe-spanning role-playing sci-fi game, "Starfield" is made by US studio Bethesda, which Microsoft bought as part of a...

July 18 was the cut off point to finalize the $75bn deal.

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.

The $69-billion deal is the largest acquisition in the gaming world.