The European Commission (EC) wants more time to decide whether to approve the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.
According to Neowin , Microsoft is about to buy game publisher Activision Blizzard for a whopping $69 billion. However, one of the regulators with the authority to approve the deal delayed the deadline for a final decision.
Eurogamer has reported that the EU and the EC executive body will push back the decision to approve or deny the deal from April 25 to May 22.
The extended period will give Microsoft more opportunity to come up with some solutions to help the EU and EC feel more comfortable with the acquisition. Previous reports indicated that the EC would let the deal continue without Microsoft having to sell off the Call of Duty game franchise .
This week, Microsoft also committed to providing Xbox and Activision Blizzard games to two streaming companies, Boosteroid and Ubitus. games Microsoft says it has offered a similar 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on Sony’s PlayStation console. However, Sony not only disagreed with the agreement, but believed that Microsoft might disable Call of Duty games on the PlayStation to the company’s own advantage. future
Even if the EU approves the deal, Microsoft will have to try to convince both the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to put pen to paper for approval. This week, the FTC accused Microsoft of failing to provide it with documents it requested to examine the company’s arguments.