It seems to unravel, albeit slowly, the skein concerning the acquisition of Activision Blizzard from Microsoft, at least on the European front. According to reports from Engadget the EU should approve the manoeuvre occurred last year, when Microsoft formalized the acquisition of the popular video game publisher Activision Blizzard.
The operation from approx 69 billion dollars it was frozen for over a year as both US and European authorities expressed concerns. The acquisition, according to the indictment, would result in a anti-competitive practice. Activision Blizzard is in fact the publisher of popular video games, above all the franchise Call of Duty. According to the authorities, but also according to the competition Sonythe exclusive rights to the video games of the saga would lead to a market monopoly of the video games.
Accusations always rejected by Microsoft, which has expressed its intention to don’t make games exclusive to Xbox. In this regard, just a few weeks ago, Microsoft reached a ten-year agreement with Nintendo for the publication of future Call of Duty games on consoles from the great N.
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard: EU towards approval
Engadget writes that “the EU should not require the sale of assets to approve the deal”. After all, Microsoft itself would have no intention of selling the exclusive rights to Call of Duty. The recent agreement with Nintendo would aim precisely to appease the concerns of the European and American authorities (where the FTC is at the forefront).
Microsoft has in fact declared that it has “committed to offering effective and easily applicable solutions, which respond to the concerns of the European Commission”. An effort confirmed by a recent statement to the microphones of Reuters. A Microsoft spokesperson said:
“Our commitment to providing long-term 100% fair access to Call of Duty for Sony, Steam, NVIDIA and others preserves the benefits of the agreement for players and developers and increases competition in the marketplace.”
If it is true that on the European front the skein seems to be unraveling for the better, Microsoft will still have to fight with the US and British authorities. The company only has until July to sort out the antitrust issues, or else will be forced to renegotiate or abandon the acquisition (which would mean paying a fine of up to $3 billion).