Microsoft 'Confident' It Can Address EU Concerns Over Activision Deal - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 February 2023 / 3,022 Views
European Union regulators have issues a formal antitrust warning to Microsoft over its Activision Blizzard acquisition, according to three people close to the matter who spoke with Politico.
A Microsoft spokesperson in a response to the formal antitrust warning said it is committed to "finding a path forward" and is "confident" it will be address the concerns from the European Union regulators.
"We are listening carefully to the European Commission's concerns and are confident we can address them," said the Microsoft spokesperson.
This formal antitrust warning was expected and Microsoft was already reportedly looking to offer remedies to concerns by the European Union regulators.
Microsoft is also dealing with concerns over its acquisition of Activision Blizzard by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK.
The FTC in December announced it was looking to sue to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard as it would give Microsoft the ability to suppress its competitors in gaming.
A report from last month claims the FTC filed the lawsuit quicker than expected as a way to dissuade the European Union regulators from accepting a settlement allowing the deal to be approved. This is according to people familiar with the investigations.
The FTC reportedly filed its complaint a matter of hours after US and European Union officials held a call about their investigations into the deal. During the call the European Union regulators said they planned to start discussions with Microsoft about a settlement.
This knowledge is what led the FTC to file the lawsuit on the same day, even though this wasn't supposed to happen until later in the investigation, according to the report. The FTC wasn't going to act until the Spring, according to the sources.
Chile's regulatory authority, the Fiscalia Nacional Economica, in December 2022 released its ruling on Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition and has voted to approve the deal in Phase 1. The acquisition has also been confirmed to have been approved in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia unconditionally.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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They might be able to settle with european regulators, but not the FTC, because the FTC needs to block this to achieve political credibility. The FTC will fight this to the end.
Hope this gets blocked. This "publisher buying" bullshit needs to end.
I don't think it will but I do agree after this enough is enough. This is for both sides.
2 of the most corrupt countries ( in terms of $ amount ) are the ones trying to block this deal. Rest of the world see’s nothing wrong.
This deal will put MS on par with Sony in the most important ways.
The idea that being equal to your competitor is “‘anti-Trust” or a “monopoly” is clearly crazy BS.
Nothing but corruption/incompetence explains any hesitation wanting to deny this deal.
Are you saying the US and EU are more corrupt than Chile, Brazil, Saudia Arabia, and Serbia? That's a very weird stance to take. This dollar amount caveat you've inserted means nothing because the EU and US are the richest countries in the world clearly the dollar amount of corruption will be higher especially when we're talking about the EU which is a group of countries not just one.
People are seriously coming up with the weirdest arguments for why this deal needs to happen. FTC is unconstitutional, TLOU got great ratings, Sony made money this quarter. Relax let MS and the FTC figure this out.
One of those countries Saudi Arabia owns shares in Activision/Blizzard through its investment arm. and one more thing to consider is it isn't all about market share it also about lessening competition in this case a large 3rd party that was already on xbox and not in financial distress.
Are you upset?
I wouldn't say it's corruption but they certainly have alternative motives that are politically motivated.
Yes the most upright countries and most clean regarding corruption approved, Brazil and Saudi Arabia right?
They should go after Sony if this deal doesn’t go through.
They have been doing since X360. They stopped doing it during PS4 era due to being to expensive.
They who? You think autorithies won't approve MS to buy ABK but would approve they buying Sony?
MSFT's playbook - buy a company or offer a product at below cost, damage competitors through unfair practises, eke it out just long enough to be nearly fatal, apologise then make corrections. By then damage is done.
....and thats from the 1st Browser War (netscape).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars#First_browser_war_(1995–2001)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.
Thats great when you have to use a thing from over 20 years ago to try make your point.
