Today, on May 10, EU anti-trust regulators have decided to approve the long-standing and highly controversial Microsoft-Activision deal, which is now supposed to go through sometime next week. Microsoft had been trying to acquire the video game developer Activision for the better part of this year, blocked by EU and various anti-trust committees standing against monopoly.
According to Reuters, the deal is expected to happen during the next week, probably on May 15. The Microsoft Activision deal was most prominently obstructed by the objections of UK’s competition authorities. According to them, this massive deal (the largest ever acquisition in video gaming industry) might shine a negative light on industry and monopolize the competition in online and cloud gaming segments.
Microsoft Activision deal faces strong opposition from US Federal Trade Commission & Sony Entertainment
While the Microsoft Activision deal may have received a green light from EU, some agencies are still against allowing it to materialize. Japan has presented no objection for the takeover; however, the US Federal Trade Commission is still strongly against the deal.
Agencies across the world have objections against the Microsoft Activision deal, as they seek to maintain a healthy competition in the cloud gaming industry. They suspect the industry will be polar after Microsoft Activision deal, resulting in stifling of the competition for popular titles by other developers, such as Call of Duty.
The agreements have been made with several stakeholders in the gaming industry, such as Nintendo and Valve Corp., the owner of world’s largest video game distributor. However, Steam and Sony Entertainment are staunchly against it. Sony manufactures the prominent competitor to Microsoft’s Xbox, PlayStation, and is concerned about losing massive traffic to Microsoft if it is the only one who can feature Activision’s hit cloud gaming titles, including Call of Duty and World of warcraft. Microsoft has also made several agreements and licensing deals with other rivals, such as Nvidia, Ubitus, and Boosteroid.
