The EU will allow Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard without the Call of Duty branding.
According to Neowin , Microsoft’s deal to acquire game publisher Activision Blizzard seems to be entering its final stages. A new report has surfaced just now and if it’s accurate, the biggest hurdle to completing the $69 billion deal may have been overcome.
According to news from Reuters, through unnamed sources, the EU (European Union) and EC (European Commission) will allow the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard without asking Microsoft not to sell some property of Activision Blizzard (here referring to the Call of Duty series ).
Although the EC is expected to make a final decision on April 25, Microsoft’s recent effort to address the commission’s concerns about monopoly may have worked out well.
Specifically, Microsoft has made 10-year agreements with Nintendo to ensure that Call of Duty will be available on Switch, and that the game and Xbox PC will also be brought to Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming platform. with the same time period. The move directly addressed the antitrust concerns of regulators.
Microsoft also said it made such a commitment with Sony’s PlayStation console, but so far, Sony has refused to put pen to paper on the agreement.
But even if the EU allows the merger, Microsoft still has to deal with concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which thinks the merger will mean the the game industry will suffer a decline in competitiveness.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also previously said it would be able to block the Microsoft deal. But EU approval could more likely prompt other regulators to follow suit as well.