Topic: European Union Approves Microsoft Acquisition Of Activision Blizzard King UPDATED With UK Response

[Shaymin]

Leaving just the biggest market and an increasingly smaller one.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/63719/european-union-approves-microsoft-acquisition-of-activision-blizzard-king-updated-with-uk-response

Although a part of Europe has moved to block the acquisition of Activision Blzzard King by Microsoft, the European Union proper is on board.

European Union regulators have approved the proposed $68.7b deal. Following the UK's move to block on the grounds that it would negatively impact cloud gaming, EU regulators found that agreements to bring the games to other platforms were enough to allow the deal to proceed subject to a requirement that games past and future be added to cloud service platforms (of which currently no ABK games are).

With the EU's approval, only the UK and the Federal Trade Commission of the United States need to sign off on the deal for it to go into full effect. A hearing with the FTC is scheduled for early August.

The CMA has issued a response on social media: "Microsoft’s proposals, accepted by the European Commission today, would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next 10 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." (Twitter response thread from the CMA)

[nickmitch]

I'm a little disappointed by the EU decision, but some of the arguments presented were incredibly weak. You can't argue about a marketplace that doesn't yet exist. It isn't clear what that market will look like long term or if it'll even exist. Oversondolidation in the existing market should be a good enough argument.