According to Reuters, Europe seems to have given a convincing green light to Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard has faced considerable pressure from regulators, with the European Commission (EC), the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have all stepped in to potentially block the deal. Now it seems that Microsoft has received a positive reaction from at least one of the opposing fronts.
According to a report from the Reuters news agency, Microsoft’s offer to license the use of the Call of Duty series to other platform owners is likely to overcome the antitrust concerns of the European Commission, followed by the report of the purchase agreement. Activision Blizzard is approved by this company in Europe.
“Microsoft” signed 10-year cooperation agreement with “Nintendo” company In order to bring the Call of Duty series to this company’s platforms and then sign a bilateral contract with Nvidia to support the PC versions of the series, he was able to reduce the amount of criticism by purchasing Activision Blizzard. On the other hand, “Microsoft” recently offered a 10-year cooperation to “Sony” and “Sony” has not yet given a convincing answer to this offer. Microsoft’s goal is to increase the number of Call of Duty users on other platforms to more than 150 million people.
The next obstacles for Microsoft to approve the purchase agreement of Activision Blizzard
However, the company still faces more hurdles to jump if the European Union (EU) signs off on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The British Competition and Markets Authority has taken a more pessimistic position than the European Union in this regard. CMA believes there is still a case for the Call of Duty series to be exclusive to Microsoft.
One solution the CMA has offered to approve the deal is for Microsoft to break away and sell Call of Duty or other parts of Activision Blizzard. According to Reuters, EU regulators will not require Microsoft to sell any of its Activision-Blizzard assets in order to complete the deal. Despite satisfying the CMA and the EU, Microsoft will face another hurdle from the FTC. The FTC is preparing a massive lawsuit to block the deal.
According to the history of the US legal system, the lawsuit between Microsoft and the FTC may take years to reach a final decision by the US Supreme Court. Issuing the final decision regarding the 69 billion dollar contract between Microsoft and Activision with a delay of 10 days, to April 25, 2023 (May 5, 1402) It was postponed.
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