As we wait for the UK Competition and Markets Authority to issue a "yes/no" signal on Microsoft's plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, a new report claims that Microsoft's recent changes to the acquisition plan will no longer have to go through a series of EU investigations.
The EU regulator, the European Commission, approved Microsoft's plan to acquire Activision Blizzard as early as May this year. However, the UK's CMA rejected the same plan in April, claiming it would give Microsoft an anti-competitive advantage in the cloud gaming market.
Microsoft has since submitted a new plan to the CMA. Microsoft has committed to letting Ubisoft offer current and future Activision Blizzard games via cloud streaming. The China Software Industry Association has provisionally approved the plan and is expected to give final approval before October 18.
There has been speculation that the EU could order a new investigation into Microsoft's plans as a result of the change, which would undoubtedly delay the company's timeline for completing the deal. However, a new report from Bloomberg stated that the European Commission believes that the transaction "does not need to go through another approval process."
An official spokesperson for the European Commission declined to comment on the report, saying only that the European Commission is "closely following developments in the UK and assessing their potential impact."
It is rumored that Microsoft is preparing to finalize the acquisition of Activision Blizzard as early as this Friday (October 13). Even if the company does complete the acquisition, it may still have to deal with the FTC. The council tried unsuccessfully to block the deal in court earlier this summer. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule on the lawsuit in early December.