Bloomberg: Microsoft's deal with Activision Blizzard will avoid another European Union review

The story around Microsoft and its acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been going on for almost 2 years, but more and more interesting information is emerging every time.

Here's What We Know

Bloomberg reports that the deal will avoid another European Union review. The only thing left to do is to wait for the British antitrust regulator to give its approval.

The European Commission has concluded that the deal does not require another approval process in Brussels. People close to the situation said anonymously that an approval process would have added more delays to the deal.

Although initially, the biggest opposition came from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA was blocking the deal because of the fear that Microsoft was monopolising the cloud gaming industry. However, the new conditions offered by Microsoft, namely the transfer of the right to cloud games to Activision Blizzard, will allow the deal to be closed.

While the EU has sorted out the situation, the US has its own nuances. According to an order issued by the US Federal Trade Commission in September, it will continue its internal litigation against the acquisition after suspending the process in the summer. However, Bloomberg suggests that the US will not disrupt the deal at this time.

Flashback

In January, Microsoft announced the acquisition of ActivisionBlizzard, the creators of Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and other franchises. The deal is worth $68.7 billion, which is significantly more than the $7.5 billion that Microsoft spent on the acquisition of Bethesda back in 2020. The deal is the largest in the history of gaming. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2023.

Source: bloomberg