• The European Commission is expected to issue Microsoft an antitrust warning.
• The Commission’s warning is said to include a list of concerns regarding the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
• Microsoft has said it would work with the body to address any marketplace concerns it may have.

Almost a year has passed since Microsoft announced that it intended to acquire Activision Blizzard. The last year, however, has been fraught with roadblocks for Microsoft.

The acquisition is rather massive and one of the reasons the deal isn’t closed is because regulators worry that by acquiring the developer and publisher of Call of Duty, Candy Crush and World of Warcraft, would give Microsoft far too much power.

To that end, Reuters reports that – according to people familiar with the matter – Microsoft is likely to receive an antitrust warning from the European Commission regarding its proposed acquisition.

This warning is said to include a statement of objections that outline the concerns the European Commission has about the proposed acquisition. What these concerns will include remains to be seen.

Microsoft told Reuters that it would work with the European Commission to address and marketplace concerns it may have.

“Our goal is to bring more games to more people, and this deal will further that goal.,” the firm said.

Many regulators around the world have expressed concerns that by acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft would have a massive hold on the gaming market. While Microsoft has tried to downplay the success of games such as Call of Duty, bodies such as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK still have concerns.

“The CMA is concerned that having full control over this powerful catalogue, especially in light of Microsoft’s already strong position in gaming consoles, operating systems, and cloud infrastructure, could result in Microsoft harming consumers by impairing Sony’s—Microsoft’s closest gaming rival—ability to compete as well as that of other existing rivals and potential new entrants who could otherwise bring healthy competition through innovative multi-game subscriptions and cloud gaming services,” the CMA said in October.

Seemingly in a bid to address these concerns, Microsoft offered Sony a decade long contract that would make future Call of Duty titles available on PlayStation and Xbox on the same day.

“We’ve offered Sony a 10-year contract to make each new ‘Call of Duty’ release available on PlayStation the same day it comes to Xbox,” Microsoft president, Brad Smith told The Verge in December. “We’re open to providing the same commitment to other platforms and making it legally enforceable by regulators in the US, UK, and European Union.”

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission has said that the acquisition would give Microsoft far too much power. The FTC added that the acquisition would give Microsoft the power to suppress competitors if it chose to do so.

With all of this concern surrounding the acquisition, it’s going to be a while before any sort of conclusion is reached. There is a deadline of July for the acquisition to be complete but we have to wonder if regulators will simply prevent the deal from being finalised at all.

Last year the CMA ordered Meta to sell Giphy after it ruled that the acquisition would allow meta to increase its already significant market power.