by
William D’Angelo
, posted 1 day ago / 1,825 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 wd******@******tz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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William D’Angelo