The EU’s European Commission has approved the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, as any and all concerns around the changing nature of cloud gaming have apparently been met with adequate remedies from Microsoft. That said, the UK’s CMA is still opposing the deal, creating a roadblock for $69 billion offer.
The European Commission has approved the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, saying that the Commission’s approval conditional “on full compliance with the commitments offered by Microsoft.”
This approval follows the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority disapproving of the deal, with basically prevents the $69 billion (£55 billion) acquisition from taking place unless the CMA’s position changes.
“The Commission’s in-depth market investigation indicated that Microsoft would not be able to harm rival consoles and rival multi-game subscription services,” the press release says. “At the same time, it confirmed that Microsoft could harm competition in the distribution of games via cloud game streaming services and that its position in the market for PC operating systems would be strengthened.”
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has responded to the EU Commissions approval in a statement seen by PCGamesN.
“The EC conducted an extremely thorough, deliberate process to gain a comprehensive understanding of gaming,” Kotick says. “As a result, they approved our merger with Microsoft, although they required stringent remedies to ensure robust competition in our rapidly growing industry.”
Both the European Commission and CMA have concerns about Microsoft’s acquisition and how it is poised to impact the cloud gaming market, but the Commission has still approved of the deal.
“Microsoft would have no incentive to refuse to distribute Activision’s games to Sony, which is the leading distributor of console games worldwide,” adds to Commission. “The acquisition would harm competition in the distribution of PC and console games via cloud game streaming services, an innovative market segment that could transform the way many gamers play videogames.”
The Commission has approved the deal because it sees Microsoft’s proposed remedies for the cloud gaming issue as appropriate, as Microsoft has offered the following for a ten-year period.
“A free license to consumers in the European Economic Area (EEA) that would allow them to stream, via any cloud game streaming services of their choice, all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games for which they have a license,” and “A free license to consumers in the EEA that would allow them to stream, via any cloud game streaming services of their choice, all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games for which they have a license.”
It’s added that after investigation, many “cloud game streaming service providers gave positive feedback and showed interest in the licenses” meaning that the cloud gaming services this Microsoft offer would benefit are themselves happy with it, as well as the European Commission.
While the future of the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard King remains up in the air, you might want to take a look at the upcoming games for PC, or the very best in multiplayer games you can play right now.
