• Reuters reports that Microsoft could receive antitrust approval for its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
• According to sources close to the matter, the deal could be approved thanks to Microsoft’s decision to licence titles out to rivals.
• It remains to be seen what the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has to say of the deal pending the completion of an investigation.

There could be good news on the horizon for Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of videogame behemoth Activision Blizzard.

A report from Reuters on Thursday suggests that the deal could receive antitrust approval from the European Union. This is according to three people familiar with the matter, but no official announcement has been made as of time of writing.

As per the reports, Microsoft’s offer to licence games to rivals including Nintendo, helped to push the approval through. Furthermore, the sources cited by Reuters also suggest that Microsoft won’t have to sell any assets to finalise the deal. The European Commission is only expected to announce its decision by 25th April.

With this having been said, there is a suggestion that Microsoft will have to offer other “behavioural remedies to allay concerns of other parties”. As the Competition and Markets Authority made known at the top of February, it is mighty concerned that Microsoft could change it’s tune about exclusivity once the acquisition is complete.

“Given we have provisionally found that Microsoft already has a strong position in this market [cloud gaming] through its ownership of Xbox, a global cloud computing service, and the leading PC operating system (OS), we are concerned that even a moderate increment to its strength may be expected to substantially reduce competition in this developing market to the detriment of current and future cloud gaming users,” the CMA said of the UK market.

We would be curious to see if a ruling from the EU would influence the ruling made in the UK. We do suspect that a recent announcement to bring Call of Duty games to the Nintendo Switch and potentially future consoles for 10 years may alleviate some fears.

Decision makers from each of the bodies are expected to announce decisions by April so it may be a while yet until we learn what the fate of the acquisition.

Whether Microsoft will be allowed to move forward with the deal as is in the UK is unclear. The authority in the region suggested that one way Microsoft could insure the deal went through is through Activision Blizzard splitting or selling off some of its IP.

We highly doubt either of these firms will sell of properties to push the deal through, especially for the cool sum of $69 billion.