The European Union on Monday approved Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of video game maker Activision Blizzard.
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The acquisition, sweetened by Microsoft’s promises to automatically license Activision games for cloud gaming platforms, “will no longer raise competition concerns and will ultimately unlock significant competitive and consumer benefits,” the European Commission said in a statement. Executive body of the bloc 27 countries and the main antitrust authority.
“We intend to significantly expand our investments and workforce across the EU, and we are excited about the benefits our deal will bring to players in Europe and around the world,” Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement.
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The deal has been scrutinized by regulators around the world for fear that it will give Microsoft and its Xbox console control of popular Activision franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. It is still under threat as UK regulators blocked the deal at the end of April and the US Federal Trade Commission said it was an illegal acquisition.
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In its final report, the UK Competition and Markets Authority said the “only effective remedy” for a significant loss of competition was “to ban the merger”, which would be the biggest deal in technology history.
Microsoft sought to counter the resistance by making a deal with Nintendo to license Activision games such as Call of Duty for 10 years and offering the same to Sony if the deal went through.
Following a review, the European Commission ruled out the possibility of Microsoft pulling its games off the PlayStation, saying the removal of the most popular video game console would hit its bottom line hard.
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Microsoft’s cloud gaming technology will enable streaming to tablets, phones and other devices, freeing gamers from buying expensive consoles and gaming PCs.
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“Europe has played a key role in the development of games, especially mobile games, and we expect European game developers to continue to drive growth and innovation,” Kotick said. “Our talented teams in Sweden, Spain, Germany, Romania, Poland and many other European countries have the skills, ambition and government support to compete effectively on a global scale.”
The all-cash deal was announced over a year ago and opposed by contemporaries such as Sony.
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