The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft is still bogged down, while a new entity intends to veto it.
After the FTC’s complaint, it was up to the European Commission to conduct its investigation into the anti-competitive nature of this extravagant $69 billion takeover. And according to Reutersit is preparing to send a warning to Microsoft.
Antitrust you lose your cool
While the European Commission had until April 11 to deliver its verdict, sources from Reuters people close to the case say she won’t wait that long. A ” statement of objections Should thus be sent in the coming weeks to Microsoft.
While the FTC went so far as to drag the Redmond firm to court to oppose this takeover, the European Commission is adopting a less severe stance. At most, she will therefore send her grievances, on which Microsoft will have to make some concessions in order to pass the pill.
always according to Reuters, informal discussions would also have taken place between the American company and the Commission, in order to avoid reaching that conclusion. ” We continue to work with the European Commission to remove any doubts about the influence of this takeover on the market. Our goal is to bring more games to more people, and this buyout will help us achieve that. a Microsoft representative reportedly said.
A long-running soap opera for Microsoft
If we do not yet know the grievances that the European Commission brings to this takeover, we can count on the fact that they will be similar to those of the FTC, having gone so far as to file a lawsuit. The American antitrust federation indeed criticized Microsoft for the phenomenon of crushing competition that this takeover would allow on the console market, that of subscription systems with the Xbox Game Pass, and finally that of Cloud gaming.
The American giant has tried to go out of its way to convince all the parties involved with concessions such as a ten-year agreement so that the games call of duty are also releasing on Steam, as well as Nintendo and PlayStation consoles. Further efforts of this kind are therefore to be expected in the future.
Despite these many setbacks, analysts still believe that the takeover will eventually be completed. If Microsoft hoped that this would be the case this summer, however, recent developments risk significantly upsetting its plans. The case has in any case been approved unconditionally by the antitrust authorities of Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Serbia. See you in a few weeks for the rest of the soap opera?
Source : Reuters
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