EU antitrust regulators are set to approve Microsoft Corp’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision next week, with May 15 as the likeliest date, people familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported.
The European Commission’s imminent clearance comes nearly three weeks after the UK competition authority blocked the deal, the biggest-ever deal in gaming, over concerns it would hinder competition in cloud gaming.
The EU antitrust enforce is expected to clear the acquisition after Microsoft agreed to licensing deal with cloud streaming rivals including Nvidia, Ukraine’s Boosteroid, and Japan’s Ubitus, other people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters in March.
It also has an agreement with Nintendo to bring Activision’s Call of Duty to its gaming platforms should the acquisition go through, U.S. distributor Valve Corp, owner of the world’s largest video game distribution platform, Steam, declined a contract saying it trusts Microsoft.
The Commission, which has set a May 22 deadline for its decision, declined to comment.
VideoGamesChronicle reported that the European Commission has confirmed plans to publish its verdict by May 22, and it has previously been claimed that Microsoft’s willingness to offer game licensing deals to rivals is likely to address its antitrust concerns.
According to VideoGamesChronicle, 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 had called “bad for Britain” and the latter has labeled “irrational”.
Microsoft has reportedly hired a lawyer known for repeatedly defeating the EU regulator in competition cases to lead its appeal against the CMA’s decision.
Windows Central appears to be skeptical about the outcome, and posted a headline titled: “This report says the EU will approve Microsoft’s Activision deal for Xbox, but will it?”
Windows Central wrote: Microsoft is currently in the process of trying to acquire Activision-Blizzard-King, makers of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush Saga. The deal has been fraught with regulatory scrutiny, with Sony PlayStation decrying the deal to regulators across the globe.
The UK regulatory arm known as the CMA blocked the deal a few weeks ago, Windows Central wrote, claiming that it would give Microsoft a monopoly in this very, very nascent market – a market in which Microsoft says it can only serve to 5,000 concurrent users in the UK.
In my opinion, anyone who has been paying close attention to the Microsoft – Activision Blizzard acquisition has been on an emotional roller coaster, waiting to see what the various regulators of different countries will decide. I’m hoping the EU antitrust regulators will approve of the acquisition.