‘European Commission appears to approve Activision takeover after licensing deals’

The European Commission is reportedly satisfied by the licensing agreements that Microsoft has concluded with Nintendo and Nvidia regarding Call of Duty. According to Reuters sources, it is ‘likely’ that the EC will give the green light for the Activision takeover.

The news agency writes this based on three sources familiar with the matter. The European Commission is not expected to make it a condition of the purchase that part of Activision be resold. By April 25 at the latest, the European Commission is expected to make a decision on the proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft.

Microsoft has signed agreements with Nintendo and Nvidia stating that, if the acquisition goes through, titles such as Call of Duty will become and remain available on the platforms of those two companies. These agreements are for a period of ten years. It appears that they have made a significant contribution to convincing the European Commission that the takeover would not have an unacceptable effect on the gaming market. Sony had a similar offer, but did not respond.

In any case, convincing the European Commission would have overcome an obstacle. The American market watchdog FTC is still very critical of the deal and the British Competition and Markets Authority is also not happy with it. The critical attitude is not entirely surprising; This is by far the largest acquisition in the gaming industry, with a total price of 68.7 billion euros.