Microsoft has won approval from European Union regulators for its $69 billion acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard, after offering concessions to address competition concerns in the cloud gaming market.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said on Monday that Microsoft agreed to let users stream Activision games they buy on any cloud gaming platform, and to offer royalty-free licenses to cloud gaming providers to stream Activision titles.
The commission said these remedies would ensure that consumers have a choice of where to stream their games and that rival cloud gaming platforms can access Activision’s popular franchises, such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.
The EU decision is a major victory for Microsoft, which faced opposition from some of its competitors, including Sony, the maker of the PlayStation console. The deal was also blocked by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority last month over fears that it would reduce competition in the nascent cloud gaming sector.
Cloud gaming is seen as a key growth area for the gaming industry, as it allows users to play games on any device without the need for expensive hardware. Microsoft has invested heavily in its cloud gaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is part of its Xbox Game Pass subscription.
The commission said it examined the impact of the deal on the console and cloud gaming markets and found that it would not harm competition in the console market, where Sony’s PlayStation dominates. However, it found that the deal would raise competition issues in the cloud gaming market, where Microsoft could make Activision games exclusive to its own platform or charge higher fees to other providers.
The commission said Microsoft’s remedies would address these concerns and prevent Microsoft from leveraging its strong position in the PC and console gaming markets to gain an unfair advantage in the cloud gaming market.
The deal still needs approval from other regulators around the world, including in the U.S., where it is under review by the Federal Trade Commission.
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