Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Purchase Approved in EU

After a lengthy review process, Microsoft’s ongoing purchase of Activision Blizzard has now finally been approved by the European Commission. In recent months, Microsoft has started to run into a number of roadblocks that have made its acquisition of Activision begin to look unlikely. Fortunately for the company, one of the biggest regulatory entities in the world has now decided to approve the deal which could end up giving Microsoft momentum in the coming months. 

As of today, the European Commission, which is the regulatory body in Europe that reviews purchases of this kind, opted to approve the purchase of Activision under a set of compliances. Namely, this approval only came about after Microsoft agreed to a 10-year deal involving Activision Blizzard games that would allow them to be streamed via “any cloud game streaming service” of choice for players. 

“The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard (‘Activision’) by Microsoft,” said the offiicial press release on this decision. “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 Commission’s in-depth market investigation indicated that Microsoft would not be able to harm rival consoles and rival multi-game subscription services,” the European Commission went on to say. “At the same time, it confirmed that Microsoft could harm competition in the distribution of games via cloud game streaming services and that its position in the market for PC operating systems would be strengthened.”

Although Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard has now been approved in the EU, there’s a long way to go before this sale is able to close. Currently, Microsoft is dealing with a lawsuit from the FTC in the United States as part of this sale while the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom chose to outright block the purchase. Microsoft is still looking to fight back on both of these counts, but it will need to achieve victories with both matters if it wants to be able to complete this acquisition of Activision Blizzard. 

How do you feel about this Activision purchase now being pushed through by the EU? And how do you think that this whole saga will end for Microsoft? Let me know for yourself either down in the comments or reach out to me on Twitter at @MooreMan12.