Microsoft"s ongoing purchase of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion has been the talk of the town for over a year now. Although the deal has been approved in a couple of countries like Saudi Arabia and Brazil, the Redmond tech giant has been facing major challenges in its main markets like the U.S. and Europe. The company has now received a list of concerns from the European Commission (EC) regarding its purchase.
Bloomberg claims that Microsoft has received a statement of objections from the EC earlier in the week, according to unnamed sources familiar with the matter. This list of concerns is part of an ongoing investigation, the results of which are due on April 11.
Simply stated, this statement outlines "potential reasons" to block the Activision Blizzard takeover unless certain concessions are made. However, it is important to understand that this is standard process and does not necessarily mean that a deal isn"t going to be approved. Microsoft has already said that it is ready to offer concessions to the EU, if required.
Right now, details are unclear what the objections include, but we already know that many regulators including the EC believe that this deal could reduce competition in the market and give Microsoft a stronghold in the mobile and cloud gaming sector as well. The potential of this happening has also been highlighted by Nvidia and Google as well. For its part, Microsoft has been trying to assure regulators that it does not plan to restrict competition or reduce access to games. It has already promised to bring Call of Duty to the Nintendo Switch and offered to keep the franchise on PlayStation for at least the next 10 years as well.
Source: Bloomberg