Brazilian regulator approves Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard deal
Brazil’s regulatory body has become among the first to approve Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
On Wednesday, the country’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) said it had approved the merger with no restrictions.
“It is important to highlight that the central objective of CADE’s activities is the protection of competition as a means of promoting the well-being of Brazilian consumers, and not the defence of the particular interests of specific competitors,” part of CADE’s summary reads.
“After all, one cannot lose sight of the fact that the holder of the legal assets protected by Law No. 12,529/2011 is the collectivity, and not the competitor/economic agent as an individual entity.
“In this sense, although it is recognized that part of the users of PlayStation consoles (from Sony) could decide to migrate to Xbox in the event that Activision Blizzard games – and especially Call of Duty– become exclusive to the Microsoft ecosystem, SG/Cade does not believe that such a possibility represents, in itself, a risk to competition in the console market as a whole.”
The Brazilian regulator was one of the first to publicly share its correspondence around the merger, including unprecedented access to Q&A responses from companies such as Sony, Ubisoft, Amazon and Google.
The decision follows that of Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Competition, which declared in August that it had “no objection” to the proposed games industry buyout.
The proposed $68.7 billion acquisition is currently being scrutinised by regulators around the world amid antitrust concerns during a time of increasing consolidation in the gaming industry.
According to a report published on Wednesday, the US Federal Trade Commission
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