The EU anti-competition commission has approved Microsoft’s purchase of Activision-Blizzard. Following the Xbox maker’s commitment to remedies the EU proposed, the commission believes the deal will help spur growth in the cloud gaming sector.
“The Commission’s in-depth market investigation indicated that Microsoft would not be able to harm rival consoles and rival multi-game subscription services,” the commission said in a press release. “At the same time, it confirmed that Microsoft could harm competition in the distribution of games via cloud game streaming services and that its position in the market for PC operating systems would be strengthened.”
One of the EU’s proposed remedies is free license for consumers to stream any Activision-Blizzard game they own on whatever cloud platform they preferred, and a corresponding license for cloud platforms to host these games. The EU said in its statement that this license extends to any provider – not just the handful of cloud businesses that Microsoft made 10-year deals with – and Microsoft agreed to the terms.
“The European Commission has required Microsoft to license popular Activision Blizzard games automatically to competing cloud gaming services,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said on Twitter. “This will apply globally and will empower millions of consumers worldwide to play these games on any device they choose.”
The EU’s investigation concluded that Activision-Blizzard would not have provided its games to cloud services without the acquisition. Cloud providers that the commission surveyed also said they believed access to these games would help boost their business.
The commission also said that, even if Microsoft tied Call of Duty to the Xbox ecosystem, other console makers wouldn’t suffer, as the FPS game series isn’t a significant player in the European Economic Area. That statement seems at odds with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2’s momentous sales in Europe and the series’ usually strong performance in the region, though.
In April 2023, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority arrived at the opposite conclusion. The CMA argued the deal would give Microsoft too much influence to dictate how the cloud sector grew, likely in a way that benefited Xbox more than other providers. The CMA posted a short thread on Twitter reaffirming its commitment to that decision.
The FTC’s lawsuit intended to block the acquisition remains ongoing, with an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Aug. 2, 2023.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
