EU antitrust regulators extend deadline for verdict on Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision deal until April 25

EU antitrust regulators have extended their deadline for a decision on Microsoft’s $69 billion (roughly Rs. 5,71,800 crore) acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision until April 25, a filing claims of the European Commission on Wednesday.

Manufacturer Xbox announced the Activision Blizzard deal in January last year to help it better compete with leaders Tencent and Sony, but has encountered regulatory hurdles in Europe, Britain and the United States.

He is expected to propose remedies to the EU competition authority soon.

Microsoft last month struck a 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty and other Activision games to Nvidia’s gaming platform if maker Xbox is allowed to complete its hotly contested $69 billion acquisition of Activision. of dollars.

Regulators and competitors like Sony have spoken out against the proposed Microsoft-Activision tie-up. The move could assuage concerns by giving consumers more ways to have gaming controlled by Microsoft, but regulators around the world are skeptical of the acquisition.

Britain earlier in February said the deal could hurt gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and PlayStation, leading to higher prices, less choice and less innovation for millions of gamers, as well than stifling competition in cloud gaming.

Sony led opposition to the Microsoft-Activision deal, saying last year it was “bad for competition, bad for the games industry, and bad for gamers themselves.”

Besides Sony and Nvidia, other companies, including Alphabet’s Google, have raised concerns with the FTC about the deal, according to media reports.

Microsoft has committed to keeping Call of Duty on Sony’s PlayStation. The first-person shooter franchise’s popularity hasn’t waned nearly two decades since its launch, with the latest installment hitting $1 billion in sales in its first 10 days in October.

The US tech giant said the deal is not limited to Call of Duty. He said buying the company, which also makes Overwatch and Candy Crush, would boost its growth in mobile, PC and cloud games, as well as consoles, helping it compete with Tencent and Sony.

Last month, Microsoft Chairman Brad Smith sought to convince EU antitrust regulators in a closed-door hearing that the company’s bid for Activision Blizzard would spur competition.

Smith led a delegation of 18 senior executives, including Phil Spencer, chief executive of Microsoft Gaming, while Activision was represented by its CEO Robert Kotick, according to a European Commission document seen by Reuters.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

---