Today, Microsoft scored an important victory in its ongoing campaign to get its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard approved by regulators, as the European Commission officially rubber-stamped the deal. Microsoft’s remedies, including inking a series of deals to bring Call of Duty to the Nintendo Switch and rival cloud gaming services for at least a decade, were enough to satisfy the EU. This 10-year deal was also offered to, and rejected by, Sony, but EU regulators believe the PlayStation brand will still be plenty competitive without Call of Duty.

　　Opinions on the EU decision are sure to be split and it seems the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which ruled against the merger last month, isn’t impressed. The CMA largely ruled against the merger on the grounds that Call of Duty plus Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming would give Microsoft an unfair advantage in the cloud gaming sector. It seems they’re not budging on that point, issuing a new statement saying the Activision Blizzard acquisition would give Microsoft the tools to “set the terms and conditions of this market for the next 10 years.”

　　“The UK, US and European competition authorities are unanimous that this merger would harm competition in cloud gaming. The CMA concluded that cloud gaming needs to continue as a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice in this rapidly evolving sector.

　　Microsoft’s proposals, accepted by the European Commission today, would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next 10 years. They would replace a free, open and competitive market with one subject to ongoing regulation of the games Microsoft sells, the platforms to which it sells them, and the conditions of sale. 

　　This is one of the reasons the CMA’s independent panel group rejected Microsoft’s proposals and prevented this deal. While we recognise and respect that the European Commission is entitled to take a different view, the CMA stands by its decision.”

　　It will be interesting to see what this EU/UK split decision might mean for the Activision Blizzard deal. Of course, we also have to take into account the US Federal Trade Commission, which has taken the most aggressive stance of any regulator, going to far as to sue Microsoft to block the merger. In other words, this is still far from a done deal.

　　You can keep up with the latest twists and turns in the Activision Blizzard acquisition story, right here.