On Monday 15 May, the European Commission authorised the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft.
In its preliminary investigation, the Commission had highlighted that Microsoft was likely to raise competition concerns, on the one hand, in the market for the distribution of video games for consoles and PCs, including multi-game subscription services and game streaming, and, on the other hand, in the market for the supply of operating systems for personal computers.
On the other hand, after an in-depth investigation, the Commission states that Microsoft could not harm competing consoles or multi-game subscription services. However, Microsoft would be in a position to harm competition in the market for the distribution of games through cloud streaming services.
The Commission has therefore made its green light conditional on Microsoft implementing remedial measures for 10 years.
Microsoft has agreed to grant a free 10-year licence to consumers in the European Economic Area (EEA) to stream all of Activision Blizzard’s current and future licenced PC and console games using the cloud-based game streaming service of their choice.
In addition, Microsoft has committed to granting a corresponding free licence to cloud-based game streaming service providers for a period of 10 years, to allow gamers based in the EEA to stream all Activision Blizzard PC and console games.
An independent trustee, under the supervision of the Commission, will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of these commitments.
Link to case: https://aeur.eu/f/6w1 (Original version in French by Emilie Vanderhulst)