European Commission approves Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal

The European Commission announced today that it had approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. While it expressed reservations about the deal, it said Microsoft’s efforts to prove it wouldn’t monopolize the cloud gaming space swayed its decision. It also said that the deal would represent a marked improvement for cloud gaming compared with its current situation, though Microsoft will have to adhere to certain conditions.

The EU Commission says it investigated the acquisition, and found that, while Microsoft likely couldn’t harm rival consoles with the merger, it could potentially muscle out fellow cloud-gaming services and would dominate the PC market. It also noted that it didn’t believe withholding Call of Duty from PlayStation would harm competition in the region, as “it is less popular in the EEA than in other regions of the world, and is less popular in the EEA within its genre compared to other markets.”