According to our colleagues at Reuters, the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard could be accepted by the European Commission. According to the media, the recent agreements signed with Nintendo and Nvidia have reassured the institution as to the intentions of the American giant.
As you probably know, Microsoft created a surprise in January 2022 by announcing the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard for a historic amount of $69 billion.
But beware, the operation has not yet been approved and this acquisition must first pass through the hands of the various competition authorities where Activision exercises, namely the European Commission for the EU, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States, the SAMR in China and finally the CMA in our British neighbors.
For good reason, as soon as the takeover was announced, many concerns surfaced, in particular concerning the future of certain flagship licenses of the publisher on competing consoles. Sony was the first to step up and show its fear of losing Call of Duty on Playstation.
Microsoft’s takeover of Activision-Blizzard is on track in Europe
However, we have just learned, thanks to our colleagues from Reuters that the operation has a good chance of being accepted, at least in Europe. Recently, Microsoft signed license agreements with Nintendo and Nvidia, which guarantee the presence of Call of Duty games on the platforms and consoles of both companies for the next 10 years.
A way for Microsoft to prove its good faith to the various regulators, but also to Sony, as to its plans for the famous FPS license. Note also that Microsoft has offered a similar agreement to Sony, remained unanswered for the moment. But anyway, these recent deals would have reassured European legislators.
According to Reuters, it is therefore unlikely that the European Commission will require Microsoft to sell Activision-Blizzard assets (in particular those to Call of Duty) to obtain its authorization. Be careful however, nothing is done yet. EU regulators will give their final answer on this hot file by April 25.
And if victory seems within reach in Europe for Microsoft, it is still far from being the case in the USA and the United Kingdom. The FTC sued to block the deal at the end of 2022while the CMA rather wants the Redmond firm to separate from Call of Duty to avoid any problems.
