The EU apparently would not microsoft sell intellectual property as Obligation as concessions to help close the Activision Blizzard deal. Rumors had suggested that some antitrust bodies would make it a requirement for the deal to go through, but the European Commission was not expected to be among them.
Call of Duty licensing deals should be enough for Microsoft in Europe
Microsoft is ready to offer licensing deals for Activision Blizzard IPs if the acquisition goes through, including a 10-year deal that would keep Call of Duty on PS5 or PS4. A deal was recently signed to bring the franchise to Nintendo Switch as well as Nvidia’s GeForce Now platform. According to sources who spoke to Reuters, this should be enough to satisfy concerns from the European Commission, which no longer plans to require Microsoft to sell assets like Call of Duty if the deal goes through. A Microsoft spokesperson said:
(We are committed) to proposing effective and easy to apply solutions which respond to the concerns of the European Commission. Our long-term commitment to grant 100% equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Steam, NVIDIA and others preserves the benefits of the agreement for gamers and developers and increases competition in the marketplace.
The European Commission had not commented on the reports at the time of writing.