The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rejected a previous draft of Microsoft's proposed deal to merge with Activision Blizzard (to the tune of $69 billion). The expected summer completion date was missed due to this sole case of opposition—all of the other international regulatory bodies had approved a conglomeration of Xbox and Activision portfolios. Ubisoft later emerged as an unlikely knight in shining armor, since the UK CMA has provisionally approved freshly revamped conditions—it turns out that Microsoft had agreed to sell its cloud streaming rights to the French video game publisher. The Financial Times sat down with one of the company's co-founders—CEO Yves Guillemot—and discussed how cloud gaming will revolutionize the industry.

Guillemot was not asked to comment on how much his firm has agreed to spend—allegedly a one-off fee—on purchasing Activision Blizzard's cloud streaming rights (from Microsoft). He did discuss the inherent risk of embracing a relatively immature market technology: "When Netflix first said it was going to go into streaming, their shares fell a lot and they were widely criticized. Today, we see what they have become. It's going to be the same with video games, but it will take time. But when it takes off, it will happen very quickly...We strongly believe in the next five to 10 years, many games will be streamed and will also be produced in the cloud. That's what pushed us to go forward with the Microsoft deal." This looks to be an unusual move for Ubisoft, considering the rumors of a recent strategy shift in reaction to downturns in sales.

Hi Everyone, today I'd like to share that the talented team at Criterion Games will be joining EA Entertainment. Criterion has a rich history in gaming, having worked on Battlefield, Battlefront, Burnout, and of course, Need for Speed. I'm thrilled to have a studio with such pedigree join the studios I oversee. As we've said before, we're all-in on Battlefield. Today, Criterion is added to our world-class Battlefield studios dedicated to ushering in a new era for the franchise.

The majority of the team will be working alongside DICE, Ripple Effect, and Ridgeline that are led by Byron Beede, GM of Battlefield. Criterion's experience with Battlefield, our technology and building engaging experiences will have an immediate positive impact as we continue to work on Battlefield 2042, and as we continue pre-production on a connected Battlefield Universe. There is no better studio to join us on this journey and I couldn't be more excited.

The fighting game genre has many notable franchises. One of the earliest to earn iconic status is Mortal Kombat. It punched its way onto the arcade scene in 1992 and quickly found its way to the home console market, wowing players with at-the-time realistic visuals and controversial over-the-top gore. That controversial content ushered in the now-industry standard ratings system, but Mortal Kombat's legacy has been defined by much more than that. For over 11 mainline installments, the series built gameplay innovations and an ever-growing roster atop its core 1-on-1 fighting system.

Ahead of the series returning to-and recreating-its "roots" with Mortal Kombat 1, now is an amazing time to look at how it evolved through the eras.

Earlier this week it was reported that Ubisoft had cancelled development on its sequel to Immortals Fenyx Rising (2020)—Video Games Chronicle gathered information from multiple anonymous sources. The article proposed that: "a follow-up game was in early development at Ubisoft Quebec, but company leadership ultimately decided to cancel it earlier this month due to perceived challenges around establishing the IP." This studio was best known for its work on Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018), but a brave decision was made to produce a new intellectual property—Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb understood that Ubisoft had grand ambitions to turn Immortals into a big time franchise, with a continued multiplatform release strategy, as well as spin-offs.

Ubisoft has been going through a rough patch in recent times—several unannounced games were canned earlier this year, and many of the publisher's 2022 releases underperformed at retail. According to VGC's inside sources, Ubi leadership has prioritized prominent brands (e.g Assassin's Creed), and this rethink put the Immortals sequel's future in jeopardy. A company spokesperson has responded to the news site's article, and confirmed that development staff are now working on more important IPs: "As part of our global strategy, we are redirecting and reallocating some creative teams and resources within the Quebec studio to other unannounced projects. The expertise and technologies these teams developed will serve as an accelerator for the development of these key projects focused on our biggest brands. We have nothing further to share at this time."

Publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive are thrilled to reveal John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, coming in 2024 to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the Epic Games Store. Tag team with up to four players in this intense first-person shooter and battle massive hordes of mutated monstrosities to eradicate a supernatural outbreak before it's too late.

Watch the exhilarating reveal trailer, which premiered at the Summer Game Fest live showcase, for a first taste of the title's over-the-top gameplay and John Carpenter-inspired '80s vibes, packed with tons of action, humor and horror. "We're happy to team up once again with our historical partner Saber," said John Bert, Managing Director at Focus Entertainment. "After World War Z, Space Marine 2, Insurgency, SnowRunner, and many others, Toxic Commando is a new entry into the successful long-term relationship between Focus and Saber. We cannot wait to unveil more about this new amazing IP created by the talented teams at Saber and leverage Focus' expertise in turning new franchises into worldwide hits."

Atari - one of the world's most iconic consumer brands and interactive entertainment producers - announced, on April 19, the acquisition of more than 100 PC and console titles from the 1980s and 1990s. The collection includes notable games from the Bubsy, Hardball, Demolition Racer series, as well as the 1942: Pacific Air War, F-117A, and F-14 air combat series. Atari will seek to expand digital and physical distribution of the classic titles, create new games based on the IP, and explore brand and merchandising collaborations.

"This is a deep catalog that includes groundbreaking and award-winning titles from Accolade, Infogrames and Microprose," said Atari CEO Wade Rosen. "Many of these titles are a part of Atari history, and fans can look forward to seeing many of these games re-released in physical and digital formats, and in some cases, even ported to modern consoles." Atari also acquired the trademark to the Accolade and GTI brands. Accolade was a well-respected US-based video game developer and publisher from 1984 until 2000.