Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard has won European Union approval, just weeks after the UK’s antitrust vetoed the biggest deal ever in the gaming industry.
According to the European Commission, the acquisition would not hurt competition after Microsoft promised to allow cloud rivals to offer blockbuster titles like Call of Duty on their platforms for 10 years.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager on Monday described the deal as ‘pro-competitive’, adding it would ‘kick-start’ the cloud streaming market, accounting for only 1% to 3% of the deal of the entire market.
EU’s Vestager said the difference in conclusions between EU and UK regulators focused on how quickly the cloud gaming market will develop in the future. “We agree that the cloud streaming market is a promising market. We may disagree on how fast it will develop,” Vestager said, adding that the EU sees a longer development period for cloud gaming than the UK.