Microsoft’s purchase of Activision gets the OK from the EU

Enlarge / Just a few of the Activision franchises that will become Microsoft properties if and when the acquisition is finalized. (credit: Microsoft / Activision)

The European Commission (EC) has officially approved Microsoft's long-proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision, concluding a long-running "in-depth investigation" that has long been expected to go Microsoft's way. But the decision is in direct conflict with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which says it "stands by its decision" to block the deal in that Brexit-separated country.

Microsoft will fix it

Months ago, the EC's preliminary investigation of the Microsoft/Activision deal concluded that the proposed merger could reduce competition in areas including cloud gaming services and PC operating systems. And despite the EC's final decision, today's final report on the matter affirms some of those preliminary competition concerns.

"If Microsoft made Activision's games exclusive to its own cloud game streaming service, Game Pass Ultimate, and withheld them from rival cloud game streaming providers, it would reduce competition in the distribution of games via cloud game streaming," the EC concluded. Such a move could "also strengthen the position of Windows in the market for PC operating systems," the European regulators wrote.

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