EU reportedly unlikely to demand Activision Blizzard split from Microsoft

EU Commission seems to react positively to Nintendo, NVIDIA deals

The EU’s market regulators are likely satisfied with Microsoft’s recent deals with Nintendo and NVIDIA about guaranteeing these competitors access to video games from Activision Blizzard after the proposed $69 billion acquisition of the publisher.

This is according to a Reuters report citing three sources familiar with the matter, who also said that the EU is unlikely to follow the UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) into demanding that Microsoft sell off parts of Activision Blizzard to gain approval for the deal. Microsoft has already rejected taking such a measure.

Finally some good news for Microsoft and Xbox regarding the Activision Blizzard takeover.

Microsoft

Microsoft recently addressed red flags raised by the EU Commission at a hearing in Brussels, Belgium, which included representatives from Sony, Activision Blizzard, and other interested parties. While Sony is still being obstructive and hopes to stop the entire deal, it seems like the Xbox maker’s recent measures made a positive impression on the EU Commission.

Microsoft has signed contracts with both Nintendo and NVIDIA, guaranteeing them to make not only Activision Blizzard games like Call of Duty available for their platforms in equal terms as Xbox, but in the case of NVIDIA also other titles from the company’s catalog.

This is the second piece of good news coming out for Microsoft regarding the ongoing battle around the merger today. Earlier, the FTC granted a majority of Microsoft’s subpoena requests for internal documents from Sony to shore up its legal defense ahead of a trial. Microsoft will have access to documents regarding all of Sony’s exclusivity deals since 2019.

The EU also moved its deadline for a final decision about the takeover back by ten days to April 25, 2023. This is one day earlier than the CMA’s final report about the matter is expected to be released.