Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been under scrutiny from regulatory authorities for a while, and it’s no surprise that a deal of this stature – valued at $69 billion should it be allowed to go through – is taking as long as it is to be greenlit (if it does get greenlit, that is). The European Commission issued an antitrust warning over the deal less than month ago, while the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority and the United States’ Federal Trade Commission also continue to investigate the deal.
Where the European Commission specifically is concerned, the regulatory body’s provisional decision regarding the acquisition is going to take a little longer to be released than previously anticipated. Speaking recently to Bloomberg, the EU regulatory confirmed that it is pushing back its deadline to publish a provisional decision by 10 days, to April 25, stating that given the magnitude of the deal, global regulatory authorities shouldn’t be in a rush to make decisions before each other.
Microsoft has taken several steps of late in an effort to allay concerns over how the deal could impact competition, should it be allowed to go through, having signed binding agreements that will see it releasing Call of Duty games for Nintendo platforms and GeForce Now for at least the next ten years. A similar deal is also on the table for Sony, but Microsoft says it is not yet close to coming to an agreement with the company.