The Activision-Blizzard deal is a stressful process for Microsoft. A few countries’ regulators have approved the deal, but the most critical countries are still reviewing the applications. According to the experts, the deal is expected to be complete by June 2023, but Microsoft has already hit an obstacle. European Union has set an antitrust warning for the deal, making the process more stressful than ever. EU doesn’t trust Microsoft’s promises about keeping the competition fair and asks for more actions, probably, especially about the Call of Duty games. The deal is still in review, but Microsoft’s plans might go by the board.
Not in the EU, but Google and Nvidia reported their concerns to FTC last week. Both companies are concerned about their position in the cloud gaming and mobile gaming markets. As Microsoft claimed before, they mostly plan to work Activision-Blizzard for mobile gaming. The rivals might get dramatically harmed by the acquisition, so the regulators are gingerly on it.
Microsoft’s Activision-Blizzard Deal Hits an Obstacle
According to Reuters, Microsoft is expected to send their objections and solution ideas. EU will send the documents about their antitrust settling in a few weeks. And Microsoft will get another answer in a few months. It’s unknown if that affects the deal’s expected completion date, but the company should have been prepared for that decision. The company has a strong lawyer workforce, and they’re actively in communication with the regulators. The antitrust settlement will probably get into another phase.
Microsoft had many actions to get bid into the safe. They offered a 10-year deal to Sony for keeping Call of Duty games on PlayStation. They also don’t plan to bring Call of Duty games to Game Pass, which is a nightmare for Sony. As they say, Microsoft’s aim is to develop more mobile games and increase the company’s share in the mobile games market.
