The acquisition of Activision Blizzard is probably more complicated than expected for Microsoft. The 69 billion dollar deal is falling apart in several countries and Europe is no exception. This Tuesday, the Redmond giant will try to convince the European Commission to accept the deal, even if it means making some concessions.
This Tuesday, February 21 could well prove decisive for the future of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. According to Archyde.comit’s a bit of a last chance hearing and the company will try by all means to save the agreement.
It must be said that Microsoft faces a practically generalized skepticism. Many organizations, including the American FTC, the British CMA and the European Commission are reluctant to this project of mega-merger in the video game industry. They are afraid that Microsoft will become all-powerful and end up dictating its law on the market, which would be harmful for competition and, ultimately, for players.
Microsoft says it is ready to sign an agreement so that the Call of Duty franchise continues to be distributed on the big competitor, namely Sony’s Playstation console. But that does not seem to be enough to reassure the people in charge of the file.
At the beginning of the month, the United Kingdom was clearly unfavorable to the project. At Activision Blizzard, we nevertheless try to remain positive, Robert Kotick going there from his comments on American television by explaining how the surveillance bodies understand nothing about video games.
In any case, this Tuesday will be an important, even decisive step for Microsoft. Europe is a major market and the company has no room for error if it wants the agreement to go through.