Activision heavyweight Bobby Kotick recently took to the airwaves for the first time in a while to talk about what a wonderful world it would be if regulators in every country approved Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard (opens in new tab) In a chat with CNBC In it, the CEO laid out a slightly different case for the acquisition than Microsoft's lawyers had told him, arguing that a merger is the only way for Western gaming companies to enter the "protected markets" of China and Japan, and warning that the UK would become "Death Valley" if the deal is rejected.

To be clear, Kotick was not predicting a drought if the U.K. defied his will; rather, he was suggesting that the country's high-tech sector ambitions would go up in flames if the Microsoft acquisition was blocked. Kotick pointed to comments by British Prime Minister Rishi Snack that the U.K. would become "the Silicon Valley of Europe," and warned that "if such a deal does not go through, [the U.K.] will not be Silicon Valley, but Death Valley.

Kotick said that "post-Brexit Britain" will "probably be the first country to see a recession, where the recession will have really serious consequences," suggesting that he would like to leverage the technological talent of institutions such as Cambridge University to combat it. Deals like this," he told CNBC presenters, "will bring job creation and opportunity. This sounds both like a warning and a threat, given that any plan to bolster the UK's high-tech sector would require the buy-in of a large company like Microsoft.

In a chat with the Financial Times (opens in new tab) following his CNBC interview, Kotick accused the British government of lacking "real vision in leadership to pursue this kind of opportunity." 'Where is the leadership,' Kotick told the FT. He also criticized the UK Competition and Markets Authority for being "captured by the ideology of the FTC" and not using "independent thinking" to consider "what positive impact this deal will have on the UK." In contrast, he said EU regulators had shown "more insight and awareness" in their approach to takeovers.

One can't help but wonder if Microsoft is hoping at this point that Activision executives can be dissuaded from approaching Mike. A week after Activision's chief communications officer, Lulu Cheng Meservei, made the utterly baffling claim (opens in new tab) that The Last of Us' success on HBO shows why the acquisition was a good idea, Kotick's inflammatory comments were finally released. Now the Activision CEO is going around blaming regulators that Microsoft has to convince.

And also, since Microsoft itself had to make a crawling apology (opens in new tab) after ranting in one of its FTC filings, accusing US regulators of violating the US Constitution, perhaps the Glass House lawyers shouldn't throw stones. As this deal drags on and the wealthy, who don't really understand the reality of the situation, become increasingly frustrated, heated comments will become more frequent.