Microsoft's drawn-out, hotly contested acquisition of gaming titan Activision-Blizzard has just cleared its next roadblock: it has been officially approved by European regulators. The main concern cited is that the the deal would create a monopoly for Microsoft, specifically in the cloud gaming space – Microsoft could potentially relegate all of Activision's games to its Gamepass service, effectively making it the only choice in the still-burgeoning cloud gaming space. While the idea has been controversial, the EU evidently decided that the deals Microsoft has signed with other cloud gaming services to keep Activision games available were enough to alleviate their concerns. That, or it's some good old-fashioned corporate lobbying.
It isn't a done deal yet, however – UK regulators made their own decision to block the acquisition a few weeks ago, a ruling which Microsoft is now appealing. The American FTC, on the other hand, is also aiming to block the deal, making it likely the last hurdle Microsoft will have to leap. For a trillion-dollar company, however, it seems like only a matter of time until they get what they want one way or another.
