It seems like the process of Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is entering its final stages. The deal is currently being investigated by regulatory bodies around the world, and as per a report by Reuters, one of them – the European Commission – is likely to greenlight it at the end of its ongoing investigation process.
The European Union regulator recently pushed back the deadline for providing a provisional conclusion of its investigation to late April, and as per the aforementioned Reuters report, that is likely to end with an approval. It’s claimed that that will happen without the European Commission requiring Microsoft to sell of any Activision Blizzard assets, which was one of several solutions proposed by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) when it found in its provisional conclusion that the proposed acquisition could “harm gamers”.
As per the report, Microsoft’s recent announcement of having agreed binding deals with Nvidia and Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to their platforms for at least the next ten years with full content and features parity is a factor in swaying the EU’s decision. That was shortly before a court hearing in which Microsoft defended its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard to the EU regulator.
Previously, the European Union had issued an antitrust warning to Microsoft regarding the pending acquisition.
In addition to the EU, the deal is also facing scrutiny from the US’ FTC and, as mentioned above, the UK’s CMA. As per analysts, the latter is also likely to eventually approve the acquisition, with the deal estimated to be closed by mid-May.
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