In news I swore I would never entertain or write about again, the EU has just approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In case you’ve been unaware, Microsoft has been locking horns with almost every country worldwide over their proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.
Since the deal was announced, legislators and competitors have been scrutinising it, with everyone from Sony to the USA’s Federal Trade Commission trying to block this deal over concerns about how it would affect competitors.
To try and sway the conversation in their favour, Phil Spensor of Microsoft has been signing deals left, right and centre, promising everyone from Nintendo to your grandma that if they do indeed manage to swing the Activision Blizzard purchase, they will make sure Call of Duty will be coming to all these other platforms.
However, not everyone likes the optics that Microsoft is trying to create. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority outright blocked the deal last month due to concerns regarding how the move would affect competition in the cloud gaming sphere – a decision Microsoft is appealing, meaning more 10-year deals are likely on the horizon.
But that’s not why we’re here today; we’re here to talk about how the European Union has just approved the deal. Just because the EU has given the deal the go-ahead doesn’t mean it’s done. Still, the EU’s approval does leave a glimmer of hope for Microsoft because had they blocked it, the deal would undoubtedly have fallen through then and there.
While the fight is still actively being fought, Activision Blizzard sent a notice to shareholders stating that at the end of the day, neither Activision Blizzard nor Microsoft was willing to step away from critical markets, should the dead be banned there, and if that were the case both companies would instead terminate the deal.
What do you make of this never-ending drama? Let us know in the comments.