The European Commission has cleared Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard
The European Commission has approved Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The approval is conditional on Microsoft fully complying with a number of commitments related to the cloud gaming market.
The Commission’s investigation into the $69 billion deal indicated it would not harm rival consoles and rival multi-game subscription services, but that it could harm competition in the distribution of games via cloud game streaming services, and in the supply of PC operating systems.
To address the competition concerns identified by the Commission, Microsoft offered the following licensing commitments, with a 10-year duration:
Under supervision of the Commission, an independent trustee will be charged with monitoring the implementation of these remedies.
“These licenses will ensure that gamers that have purchased one or more Activision games on a PC or console store, or that have subscribed to a multi-game subscription service that includes Activision games, have the right to stream those games with any cloud game streaming service of their choice and play them on any device using any operating system,” the Commission said on Monday.
It added: “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 controversial merger has also been approved in Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Serbia, Chile, Japan, South Africa and Ukraine.
Last month, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was preventing the deal due to concerns about its impact on the future of the cloud gaming market.
Microsoft and Activision quickly confirmed their intention to appeal the CMA’s ruling, which the former has called
Read more on videogameschronicle.com
