The European Union regulators granted the $69 billion deal its approval this week.
Regulators in the European Union have granted Microsoft their approval for its $69 billion acquisition of the Activision Blizzard gaming company.
This deal is subject to remedies Microsoft offered in order to assuage concerns over antitrust issues.
The European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, has stated that Microsoft offered remedies that have overcome antitrust concerns in the cloud gaming ecosystem. These remedies had to do with permitting users to use any cloud streaming platform to stream Activision games they’ve purchased.
This achievement is a major step forward for Microsoft, which had previously seen the Activision Blizzard deal blocked by the highest competition authority in the United Kingdom, as was reported by QR Code Press.
Regulators worldwide have been investigating the impact of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Those regulators have been investigating what the acquisition would do to console and cloud gaming market competition. One area where substantial examination took place was whether Activision games would be taken by Microsoft to be kept exclusively on that company’s own platforms.
Activision Blizzard develops some of the largest console and PC games in the world, including the massive World of Warcraft universe and Call of Duty franchise.
The new decision in the EU arrived after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) determined that competition would be reduced in the nascent cloud gaming market, choosing to block the deal for that reason.
According to the CMA, Microsoft would benefit commercially if it were to take the central games from Activision, such as Call of Duty, and make them exclusive to its own platforms. Still, the CMA concluded that the acquisition wouldn’t be enough to reduce console market competition. The EU Commission’s conclusion was that the acquisition would not shrink competition in the console market due to the PlayStation dominance held by Sony.
