The purchase of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft is on shaky ground because the European Commission, in charge of reviewing the acquisition, determined that it is necessary to give way to a second phase with greater scrutiny in order to verify whether or not there is a risk in terms of competition for the video game industry. The news did not go down well with Microsoft and there is already a response from the Xbox company.

Microsoft did not like the decision of the European Commission

Yesterday, the European Commission announced the extension of the process to review the purchase of Activision, a decision expected after the acquisition came face to face with market authorities who seem to pay more attention to the case and even to the objections that Sony has presented. After the start of Phase 2 was made official, a Microsoft spokesperson told Engadget: “We continue to work with the European Commission on the next steps and to address any valid market concerns. Sony, as an industry leader , says he’s worried about Call of Duty, but we’ve said we’re 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 purchase of Activision could take place until the first half of 2023
Unfortunately for fans who expected the matter to be resolved by now, especially since the purchase was announced on January 18 of this year, the above only means that we will have to wait as the extended review process will end in March 2023. The resolution window matches what Microsoft projected, but new estimates suggest the acquisition could be approved as late as June next year.

Yesterday, the controversial Bobby Kotick also made his position official regarding the decision of the European Commission and pointed out that he is sure that in the end the body will approve the purchase.

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