TechScape: Why Microsoft’s mega-merger with Activision Blizzard is stalling

In this week's newsletter: The tech behemoth was set to acquire the Call of Duty makers, then the UK regulator stepped in - but not for the reason you might think

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Oh my god. Wow." Phone calls with law professors about regulatory actions don't normally start with unprompted expressions of amazement, but regulatory actions don't normally come like this. Anne Witt, professor of law and member of the EDHEC Augmented Law Institute, had been expecting to have a very different conversation when we spoke last Wednesday.

But then, just minutes before we were due to talk, the UK's competition regulator blocked Microsoft's attempted $68.7bn acquisition of megadeveloper Activision Blizzard, the sprawling corporation behind games including Candy Crush Saga, World of Warcraft, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and, most importantly, Call of Duty.