The big developments on the front for Microsoft’s much-hyped acquisition of Activision Blizzard, as a new report from Reuters notes that the European Commission will finally allow the latter to complete the deal without having to sell or divest any of its IPs. Activision Blizzard (eg Call of Duty).
A representative of Microsoft has already commented on the publication, stressing once again that the company is committed to continuing to offer effective and easily applicable solutions to calm any concerns of the European Commission. It is also committed to continuing to offer 100% equal deals for access to Call of Duty and the rest of Activision Blizzard’s IPs across all platforms (Sony, Steam, Nvidia, Nintendo, etc.).
Another interesting development in the same case comes from the FTC (US Trade Commission), where a judge gave Microsoft permission to review PlayStation’s exclusivity contracts in order to properly prepare for the upcoming trial (in the summer) regarding its acquisition Activision Blizzard.
This means that both the courts and Microsoft will have access to Sony’s contracts from 2019 to the present, although Microsoft has requested access to all of the PlayStation division’s agreements since 2012. Sony, for its part, said that such a thing would not be possible, because he would have to search through more than 150,000 contracts with 60,000 companies.
The reason why Microsoft requested access to the PlayStation division’s exclusivity contracts is purely to counter Sony’s claims that its impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard will harm competition.
Microsoft believes that these files will prove that PlayStation is blocking certain titles from being added to the Xbox Game Pass service or even from being released for Xbox in general.
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