Microsoft's Activison Blizzard Acquisition Approved By EU
Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard was dealt a severe body blow last month as the UK's CMA blocked the deal, largely due to issues it has with Xbox potentially dominating the cloud gaming market. The European Commission doesn't appear to have those same qualms as the EU's governing body has approved the deal, a potential stumbling block that appears to have been overcome by Xbox offering ten-year partnerships pertaining to cloud gaming to a number of companies and studios should the merger eventually be allowed to happen.
The statement from the European Commission, as reported by The Verge, reveals the EU has no reason to believe Xbox would pull Activision Blizzard games from PlayStation should the merger go ahead. Sony has been vocal in its stance against the deal being approved, largely because it's fearful Call of Duty will become an Xbox exclusive should that be allowed to happen.
In fact, the European Commission's statement goes on to read that even if Microsoft were to pull the Activision rug out from under PlayStation's feet, it doesn't believe doing so would significantly harm competition in the console market. Sony's response to that particular belief will be very interesting, although Xbox has continually tried to assure its rival console provider that won't happen by offering it a ten-year deal similar to the one it has pre-emptively put in place with Nintendo.
Much like the UK, the biggest issue the European Commission has with the acquisition is Xbox's aforementioned hold on cloud gaming. An arena it already has a large stake in and will inevitably improve upon should it bring Activision Blizzard under the Xbox umbrella. As part of the decade-long deals signed with various parties,
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