A report from Reuters says that EU regulators are likely to agree to Microsoft’s plan to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The European Commission is unlikely to require Microsoft to sell any Activision Blizzard assets as a condition of approval. This is in contrast to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which suggested possible solutions like forcing Microsoft to sell off Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty business.
The EU regulators are supposed to make a decision by April 25. Microsoft’s recent licensing deals with Nintendo and Nvidia are said to have helped the software giant win favor in Europe. Just hours before a big EU meeting last month, Microsoft and Nintendo came to a binding 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms. After the meeting, Microsoft also said that it had made a similar deal with Nvidia.
Microsoft’s $68.7 Billion Deal: Will EU Regulators Approve the Activision Acquisition?
The licensing deals with Nintendo and Nvidia may have helped change the minds of EU regulators, but Microsoft is still being looked at closely in the UK and US. The CMA’s preliminary findings suggest that it prefers structural fixes like selling off the Call of Duty business over behavioral fixes like access fixes and licensing agreements. Late last year, the FTC also went to court to try to stop the deal.
Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest video game companies in the world, so buying it would give Microsoft a big boost in the gaming industry. Activision Blizzard is the company behind games like Candy Crush, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. In the past few years, Microsoft has been growing its gaming business. In 2020, it bought ZeniMax Media and in 2015, it launched its xCloud game streaming service.
The purchase of Activision Blizzard could also change the way games are made in the future. Microsoft has been pushing for cross-platform gaming, which lets people play games with their friends on different platforms. Activision Blizzard hasn’t always been a big fan of games that work on multiple platforms, but Microsoft may be able to change that.
Overall, Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is a big deal that could have major effects on the gaming business. Even though EU regulators are likely to approve the deal, the UK and US are still looking into it. If the deal goes through, Microsoft will have a strong position in the gaming industry and could push for cross-platform gaming in a way that wasn’t possible before.
