The European Commission approved the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard
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It is specified that the commission approved the deal, provided that Microsoft will adhere to several conditions. “Today’s decision comes after an in-depth investigation into the alleged acquisition of Activision by Microsoft. As always, the Commission has based its decision on solid evidence, as well as extensive information and feedback from competitors and customers, including game developers and distributors, as well as cloud game streaming platforms in the EU,” the EC said in a statement.
The EC concluded that Microsoft could not hurt the console market and multi-game subscription services. However, the deal could harm competition in game distribution through cloud-based game streaming services, but this is offset by the company’s commitments. “Even if Microsoft decides to remove Activision games from the PlayStation, this will not significantly damage competition in the console market. Even if Call of Duty is primarily played on consoles, it is less popular in the European Economic Area (EEA) than in other regions of the world, and less popular in the EEA within its genre compared to other markets,” the EC added.
As a result, Microsoft is required to grant all European streaming platforms a license to use the service for Activision Blizzard games within 10 years. The company must also allow all consumers in the EU to stream Activision Blizzard games for which they are licensed to any of the streaming platforms.
In April, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the merger Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, fearing that the tech giant will make games from one of the largest game developers and publishers exclusive to its own cloud gaming service. At the same time, the US Federal Trade Commission informedthat intends to block the deal. According to the regulator, the merger with Activision Blizzard will allow Microsoft to “crush competitors in the Xbox game consoles and the rapidly growing content subscription and cloud gaming business.” By evaluation Financial Times, if the deal goes through, Microsoft will become the third largest gaming company by revenue after China’s Tencent and Japan’s Sony.
The deal became public in January last year. Microsoft announced its approval, calling it the largest in the history of gaming (and its own). The value of the deal with Activision Blizzard is $68.7 billion ($95 per share).
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