On November 14, 2022, the Official Journal of the European Union published news regarding Microsoft’s purchase agreement for Activision Blizzard. As you already know, if you have followed this path, having had the favorable support of several international organizations in the field of competition, it is the turn of the Europeans. However, both the British CMA as European Commission They are putting a lot of barriers to buying, understanding that it could lead to a monopoly situation. And, of course, the last statement of the European Commission He stated it.
The European Commission questions the purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft and opens a new phase of the investigation:
For the moment the European Commission did not give a resounding “no” to the purchase process, but simply agreed to continue with the checks to be carried out, it being understood that the The arrival of Activision at Microsoft could lead to a potential monopoly situation. In particular, the European Commission refers to article 6.1.c) of Regulation (EC) no. 139/2004 of the Council, of 20 January 2004, on the control of concentrations between undertakings (Community Regulation on concentrations), according to which:
«Article 6
Examination of the notification and initiation of the procedure
1. The Commission examines the notification as soon as it receives it.
(…)
(c) Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 2, if the Commission considers that the notified concentration falls within the scope of this Regulation and raises serious doubts as to its compatibility with the common market, it will decide to initiate proceedings. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 9, the proceeding shall be terminated by decision, in accordance with the provisions of Article 8(1) to (4), unless the undertakings concerned have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Commission that they have renounced at the concentration«.
For this he granted a deadline of 15 days for the interested parties (both Microsoft and Activision as other video game companies whose situation could be affected by this situation) present their positions. The European Commission will probably carry out an investigation on these positions and will finally issue its decision, declaring the operation’s compatibility or otherwise with the common market.
