European Commission Approves Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Due to Cloud Gaming Concessions
EU regulators have approved Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This follows the recent rejection of the deal in the UK over competition concerns in cloud gaming, something the EU regulators were able to consider remedied due to Microsoft’s offering of 10 year licenses with cloud gaming services.
The approval today was expected, following reports that the EU would move forward and allow the deal to go through.
According to the approval by the European Commission:
“The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard (‘Activision') by Microsoft. The approval is conditional on full compliance with the commitments offered by Microsoft. The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation .”
The deal is cleared to proceed, as long as Microsoft complies with several key remedies over concern over cloud gaming. Microsoft offered several concessions to get the deal across the line, and those mirror the spate of 10-year deals the company has been signing with companies and platforms regarding both console and cloud gaming.
In the region (EEA), Microsoft offered the following for 10 years:
With Activision Blizzard’s games not currently available on any cloud platforms, the European Commissions actually sees the deal as a likely net positive.
“In addition, the availability of Activision's popular games for streaming via all cloud game streaming services will boost the development of this dynamic technology in the EEA. Ultimately, the commitments will unlock significant benefits for competition and consumers.”
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