There is a consent of the European antitrust authority for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. One step closer to a giant takeover.
Blizzard Entertainment, the maker of such legendary games as Warcraft, Starcraft or the most popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, is once again changing hands.
Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard
The legendary Blizzard after the merger with Activision - the studio responsible, among other things, for the production of the Call of Duty or Tony Hawk Pro Skater series - will again pass to another owner. A company called Activision Blizzard will soon be taken over by the tech giant. There is agreement on a deal that Microsoft has been preparing for a long time.
The company from Silicon Valley has been approaching the computer games market with growing interest for several years now. Gradually, the company expanded its product portfolio in this extremely fast growing market. However, now she is ready for the next, very important step.
Microsoft makes concessions to the EU
The European Commission has agreed to a staggering $69 billion deal for which Microsoft intends to acquire Activision Blizzard. However, the technology giant had to agree to a number of conditions from European antitrust authorities.
First of all, the company had to promise that all games developed by the studio would be available simultaneously on all platforms, including competitive ones. Thus, the EC wants to prevent the monopoly practice common in the video game industry, when manufacturers make their games available only to certain distributors. It ends up that players have access to these products, for example, only on the Xbox console, that is, on the Epic platform.
Third largest game maker in the world
The acquisition agreement will allow Microsoft to go from a company known primarily for Windows software to become the world’s third-largest video game maker. Only Tencent and Sony will remain larger.
Microsoft CEO Brad Smith assured that the promises made by the European Commission will be applied throughout the world. “Our talented teams in Sweden, Spain, Romania, Poland and elsewhere in Europe have the skills and ambition to compete on a global scale,” he assured.
Source: Wprost
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