EU clears Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Activision - Photo by Alexander Cifuentes on Unsplash
(BRUSSELS) - The EU Commission approved Monday, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, subject to full compliance of commitments offered by Microsoft.
The Commission says the commitments fully address the competition concerns it identified and represent a 'significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation'.
The decision is based on hard evidence, according to the EU executive, and on extensive information and feedback from competitors and customers, including from game developers and distributors as well as cloud game streaming platforms in the EU.
Both companies develop and publish games for PCs, consoles, and mobile devices and distribute games for PCs. Microsoft also distributes games for consoles and offers the Xbox console along with a wide range of products and services, including the PC operating system "Windows". Activision's games portfolio includes famous franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo.
Preliminary investigation found that Microsoft could harm competition (i) in the distribution of console and PC video games, including multi-game subscription services and cloud game streaming services; and (ii) in the supply of PC operating systems.
The in-depth market investigation indicated that Microsoft would not be able to harm rival consoles and rival multi-game subscription services. 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.
To address the competition concerns identified by the Commission in the market for the distribution of PC and console games via cloud game streaming services, Microsoft offered the following comprehensive licensing commitments, with a 10-year duration:
- A free license to consumers in the EEA that would allow them to stream, via any cloud game streaming services of their choice, all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games for which they have a license.
- A corresponding free license to cloud game streaming service providers to allow EEA-based gamers to stream any Activision Blizzard's PC and console games.
The Commission says the licenses will ensure that gamers that have purchased one or more Activision games on a PC or console store, or that have subscribed to a multi-game subscription service that includes Activision games, have the right to stream those games with any cloud game streaming service of their choice and play them on any device using any operating system. The remedies also ensure that Activision's games available for streaming will have the same quality and content as games available for traditional download.
Taking into consideration the feedback of the market, the Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns and would ultimately unlock significant benefits for competition and consumers. The Commission's decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments. Under supervision of the Commission, an independent trustee will be in charge of monitoring their implementation.
More information will be available on the Commission's competition website, in the Commission's public case register under the case number M.10646.