The European Union (EU) has officially approved Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The move clears a major hurdle for the company as it looks to close the deal officially, but one party still standing in the way is the UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA).
The CMA previously voted to block Microsoft’s purchase of Activision due to the uncertainty of the cloud gaming space. Now, with the EU giving its approval, the CMA posted a multi-Tweet response to the decision.
“The UK, US and European competition authorities are unanimous that this merger would harm competition in cloud gaming,” the post reads. The CMA concluded that cloud gaming needs to continue as a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice in this rapidly evolving sector.
“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.”
The CMA says that the ability to set the terms and conditions for the market is “one of the reasons” it rejected the proposals and “prevented this deal”. The organization closed by stating that it stands by its decision.
Microsoft is currently in the process of appealing the CMA’s decision. It’s also awaiting a final decision from the United States Federal Trade Commission on the purchase.
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In a recent interview with Kinda Funny, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that the company remains confident in the purchase moving forward.
“The company remains very, very committed,” he said at the time. “Activision Blizzard King is not our strategy, but it is an accelerant for our strategy. We’re still heads down and working through regulatory.”
What do you think of the CMA’s response to Microsoft’s purchase of Activision being approved by the EU?
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