The European Commission earlier this month announced an extension of the deadline for a decision on a deal that would see Microsoft acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. However, it has now been announced that the review of this issue will continue until May 22, as the regulator needs time to study new documents from Microsoft.
Image source: Activision
We are talking about a list of documents that Microsoft submitted to the European Commission this week. They detail the commitments the software giant is willing to make to mitigate the potential negative impact on the gaming industry that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard could result from. It also means that the UK regulator, represented by the Competition and Markets Authority, will announce its decision before the European Commission, as UK authority officials plan to do so before April 26th.
Pressure is mounting on Microsoft as the company battles on multiple fronts in the US and Europe to convince regulators to approve the deal. It was announced this month that Microsoft has entered into a licensing agreement with cloud services Boosteroid and Ubitus, as well as Nintendo and NVIDIA, under which Call of Duty, one of Activision’s top-grossing franchises, will continue to be available on third-party platforms for 10 Years. At the same time, Sony made it clear that it was not ready to enter into a similar agreement on the terms proposed by Microsoft, saying that this deal “cause irreparable damage” game industry. It was also reported that the European Commission will not force Microsoft to abandon Call of Duty in order to approve the deal.
“We’ve delivered on our promise to bring Call of Duty to more players on more devices by agreeing to publish games from the series on Nintendo consoles and cloud streaming services from NVIDIA, Boosteroid and Ubitus. We are now backing that commitment to the European Commission with a list of commitments that will ensure players benefit from this deal in the future.”Microsoft said in a statement.
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