EU to Approve Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition: Report

Microsoft has apparently cleared a significant regulatory obstacle as it attempts to finalize its Activision Blizzard acquisition. According to Reuters, the company’s license offers to competitors are anticipated to satisfy European Commission (EU) antitrust concerns regarding the $69 billion acquisition. Previously, the EU expressed concern that the agreement might “seriously restrict competition” in PC, console, and cloud gaming.

The EU is not anticipated to need asset sales in order to approve the agreement. Yet, the possible sale of Call of Duty has been a source of dispute as Microsoft desires to retain ownership of the property while using licensing deals to appease regulators. The business has committed to keeping the series on competing platforms for at least ten years, even bringing Call of Duty to Nintendo’s consoles if the acquisition goes through.

In this regard, one of the officials from Microsoft said,

Microsoft is committed to providing effective and easily enforced solutions that answer the concerns of the European Commission. Our pledge to offer 100% equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Steam, NVIDIA, and others on a long-term basis preserves the deal’s benefits for gamers and developers and encourages market competition.

The corporation announced the partnership in January 2022 in an effort to compete with industry titans Tencent and Sony while building its own interpretation of the metaverse. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated at the time that “gaming is the most dynamic and interesting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a vital role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

Microsoft must yet satisfy the US Federal Trade Commission and the United Kingdom’s regulators before the transaction can be finalized. The corporation has time till July to resolve the antitrust concerns, or it would be forced to renegotiate or cancel the acquisition (which would incur a $3 billion breakup fee).

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