This week, Microsoft took another step towards merging with Activision Blizzard King, thanks to the approval of the European Union. With that, the Redmond giant is now at the mercy of the conclusion of the processes moved by the authorities of the USA and the United Kingdom to find out if it will have full approval of the deal.
In any case, to secure approval by the European Commission, Microsoft had to agree to comply with certain requirements with regard to the cloud gaming market. One such requirement was the free “automatic” licensing of Activision Blizzard games to competing platforms operating in Europe for a minimum period of 10 years.
On Twitter, Microsoft Vice President Brad Smith revealed that the European Commission required Microsoft to automatically license Activision Blizzard’s popular games to competing cloud gaming services.
In response, Smith says that this measure will be enforced worldwide and that it will empower millions of consumers around the world to play these games on whatever devices they choose.
The European Commission has required Microsoft to license popular Activision Blizzard games automatically to competing cloud gaming services. This will apply globally and will empower millions of consumers worldwide to play these games on any device they choose.
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) May 15, 2023
The company’s decision could be the missing turning point for the other regulators to approve the merger, mainly the UK CMA, which used the cloud gaming market as one of the main factors to block the transaction.
For now, we can only wait for the results, but at least for now, Microsoft is certainly committed to doing everything possible for the purchase to be approved by everyone.
What do you think of this Microsoft decision?
