EU pushes back deadline for final decision on Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard merger

Both the European Commission and the UK's CMA have extended deadlines to reach a decision on Microsoft's planned Activision Blizzard acquisition. Now, the EU is pushing the deadline further, moving from late April to late May. 

While Microsoft initially planned to have this deal closed by mid 2023, that timeline is looking increasingly unlikely, if not impossible at this point. In the US, the FTC has sued to block the deal and Microsoft is preparing for a trial. Over here in Europe, the UK and EU have been pushing back the timeline to reach a decision as well. Most recently, the EU announced that it is extending its deadline to reach a decision from the 25th of April to the 22nd of May.

This follows a slate of new announcements from Microsoft, with the company signing new deals to bring Activision Blizzard and first-party Xbox games to competing cloud gaming services and consoles. The EU will spend a bit more time gathering feedback on the latest moves from Microsoft before making its decision.

According to the latest rumours, the EU is expected to approve the deal, while the UK's CMA is viewed as a major roadblock for Microsoft. The FTC is suing to block the deal, but it is believed that Microsoft has a winnable case.

Given that deadlines keep being pushed, it seems unlikely that Microsoft will be able to close the deal by the middle of the year.

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KitGuru Says: When Nvidia was acquiring Arm, it expressed confidence in the acquisition being approved by regulators every step of the way, right up until the deal was ultimately scrapped. With that in mind, while there are reasons to believe that Microsoft could push this deal through, these situations can go either way and a public display of confidence does not necessarily mean that regulator discussions are going well. 

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