EU Approves MS Blizzard Acquisition... UK and US Approval Required

The European Union (EU) Commission announced on the 15th (local time) that it has approved Microsoft (MS)'s acquisition of the game company Activision Blizzard.

According to major foreign media on the day, the EU Commission decided to approve the Blizzard acquisition by accepting MS's proposal to allow cloud gaming platforms to provide streaming services without paying royalties to MS.

The EU Commission explained, "MS has presented measures to address antitrust concerns in the cloud gaming sector," adding, "These measures allow users to stream purchased Blizzard games on all cloud streaming platforms."

Accordingly, MS has overcome a major hurdle for the $68.7 billion (approximately 90.1 trillion won) acquisition of Blizzard. However, despite EU approval, there are still many obstacles to the Blizzard acquisition, making the final acquisition uncertain.

To complete the Blizzard acquisition, MS must obtain approval not only from the EU but also from regulatory authorities in the UK and the US. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rejected MS's Blizzard acquisition deal at the end of last month. MS and Blizzard have announced plans to appeal, but it is known that no company has succeeded in appealing antitrust decisions in the UK.

Additionally, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit in December last year, expressing concerns that MS's acquisition of Blizzard would weaken competition in the gaming market. The lawsuit filed by the FTC is set to begin in August.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.