Europe will not investigate the purchase of Activision Blizzard again, and Microsoft has exhaled

Microsoft seeks to close acquisition Activision Blizzard this week once it receives final approval from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The good news for Redmond residents is that, in addition to this, they would avoid a new investigation by the European Commission.

Reportedly BloombergEurope has ruled out re-investigating the acquisition of the video games company, despite changes Microsoft made to the original agreement to please British authorities.

If it were to face fresh scrutiny from European Union regulators, Activision’s purchase of Blizzard there would be a further delay of several months before completion. As a reminder, October 18th is the deadline between the parties to complete the case, although Satya Nadella’s people are hoping to wrap it up this Friday the 13th.

The European Commission has not yet spoken publicly about this, but sources Bloomberg they claim that Microsoft will not tolerate further failures on this front. That doesn’t mean authorities aren’t keeping a close eye on everything related to the possible approval of the nearly $69 billion deal in the United Kingdom or the potential impact that changes to the agreement could have on the European bloc.

The European Commission will not investigate changes made to the Activision Blizzard purchase agreement.

The European Commission approved Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard in May last year. In fact, Europe was the first of three major markets to support the acquisition. Redmond residents subsequently won a lawsuit that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tried to block it from the US; while Britain initially vetoed the agreement, although it later returned to the negotiating table.

The key point in this story is that Microsoft significantly changed the purchase agreement while seeking UK approval.. A change that mainly appears in the section cloud gameswith the sale of rights to Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft.

It is worth noting that this agreement is valid in almost all markets. excluding countries within the European Economic Area. This is because, in order to gain approval to buy Activision Blizzard, Microsoft made a commitment to the European Commission to give European users who purchase its games a free license to play them via streaming on any cloud platform of their choice.

Changes in cloud strategy

Brad SmithRedmond President explained at the time that EU regulators have also required them to automatically license popular Activision Blizzard games to streaming services. cloud games rivals. “This will apply globally and will allow millions of consumers around the world to play these games on the device of their choice,” he said.

It was the latter that at the time gave rise to rumors about a possible new investigation by the European Commission. Ultimately, Ubisoft’s subsequent arrival on the scene changed the landscape of global adoption. Now it is this company that is licensing Activision Blizzard games for streaming outside the European Union. The situation could prove problematic for European cloud platforms wishing to expand into other territories.

Despite this, all indications are that Microsoft will not have to respond to new requests from regulators in this regard. It remains to be seen whether he will actually be able to complete his long-awaited acquisition of the Californian firm before the end of this week.