Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Greenlighted by EU

Microsoft has won another approval for its bid to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc., an American video game holding company. The European Union (EU) just approved the tech firm's $69 billion takeover deal, removing a big hurdle in the process of acquisition.

As per CNBC, Microsoft was given the green light to buy Activision Blizzard, and the EU regulators confirmed this decision on Monday, May 15. In explaining the approval, the European Commission said that the Redmond, Washington-headquartered tech firm offered remedies in the advancing area of cloud gaming that have repelled antitrust issues.

It was mentioned that the remedies are centered on allowing gamers to stream Activision games they own on any cloud-based streaming platform. At any rate, this is surely a big win for Microsoft since the deal was blocked by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority last month. The CMA said it is against the buyout because it will reduce competition in the nascent cloud gaming industry.

The EU competition watchdog determined that Microsoft would surely hurt the competition in the distribution of PC and console games, but the company offered remedies to ease the competition concerns, such as offering 10-year royalty-free licenses to cloud-gaming platforms to stream Activision titles. This means that users do not have to stream the game where they purchased it, but they are free to do so on any platform.

"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 EU regulator said in a statement.

EU's top competition official, Margrethe Vestager, also told CNBC, "We were given a remedy, so a 10-year license for free for existing and coming games, now to be made available. So, we think this is not only sort of solving a problem, but it is also pro-competitive. And that, for us, is a good thing."

Meanwhile, BBC News reported that the CMA takes aim at the EU regulators for its decision to approve Microsoft and Activision Blizzard's deal. The agency's chief executive officer, Sarah Cardell, said on Monday, "Microsoft's proposals, accepted by the European Commission today, would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next ten years. They would replace a free, open and competitive market with one subject to ongoing regulation of the games Microsoft sells, the platforms to which it sells them, and the conditions of sale."

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