The European Union's competition commission said it would conduct an in-depth review of Microsoft's proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
is getting stiff pushback overseas amid fears that it would have too much power and harm competition in the video game industry.of the merger that could take as long as 90 working days.
"[T]he Commission is concerned that, by acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft may foreclose access to Activision Blizzard's console and PC video games, especially to high-profile and highly successful games," the EU said in a statement.The EU's move comes a month after the U.K. opened its own deeper probe into the deal.
A rep for Microsoft told Axios that the company still expects to close the deal during its fiscal 2023. "We're continuing to work with the European Commission on next steps and to address any valid marketplace concerns. Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about Call of Duty, but we've said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation. We want people to have more access to games, not less," the company said.
Unlike past mega-mergers, the FTC will no longer approve big mergers with conditions. It's either all or nothing.
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