The European Commission recently approved the $68.7 billion acquisition deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.
The organization gave the approval for the proposed acquisition on Monday under the EU Merger Regulation. They said that the commitments ‘fully address the competition concerns’ and represents a ‘significant improvement’ for cloud gaming moving forward.
It was initially thought that the deal would allow Microsoft to gain leverage over the competition in the PC and console game market and operating system supply; however, after an investigation it was found that Microsoft would not harm rival other game subscription services or consoles. Regulators argued that Microsoft could gain leverage over game distribution through cloud streaming services, but the company countered by offering licensing that can last for ten years.
In the UK, Microsoft ran into trouble due to potential reduced cloud gaming competition. The Competition and Markets Authority issued an interim order to limit acquisition and forcing them to gain ‘prior written consent’ before any advancements can be made.
