As expected, on May 15, the European Commission remove the final decision on the deal for Microsoft to buy game maker Activision Blizzard for $ 68.7 billion – the European authorities have approved this acquisition.
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The Reuters whistleblowers were not mistaken: the EU regulator has approved the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. A key factor in the deal being approved was Microsoft’s licensing agreements to release Call of Duty on various cloud gaming platforms.
As the European Commission found, the commitments made by Microsoft are not fulfilled “Fully allay the Commission’s concerns and mean a significant improvement for cloud gaming compared to the current one”.
The regulator also concluded that it would be unprofitable for Microsoft to own Sony Interactive Entertainment’s platform, i.
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The EU approval comes less than three weeks after the deal was blocked by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over cloud gaming concerns. Microsoft plans to appeal.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which even filed a lawsuit demanding that the deal be blocked, also opposes the takeover. A hearing in the case is scheduled for August 2.
At the same time, the European Commission’s approval will certainly increase Microsoft’s chances of closing the deal. So far, it has been approved by regulators in Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Brazil, Chile, Japan and South Africa.
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