The European Commission is reportedly following in the footsteps of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and launching its own in-depth investigation into Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.As reported by Politico, the European Commission is gearing up to launch a Phase 2 investigation into Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard after Microsoft reportedly decided against submitting commitments to the EU following its initial inquiries. The European Commission reportedly gearing up to launch broader investigation into Xbox Activision dealMicrosoft reportedly had a deadline of midnight on October 31st to file remedies to ease concerns of the EU’s regulator. According to Politico’s sources, Microsoft decided against doing so. Now the European Commission has a deadline of November 8th to formally announce a broader second investigation into the deal, which is similar to the Competition and Markets Authority’s secondary probe. Politico also reports that the European Commission has been quizzing Microsoft’s rivals about its cloud gaming activity and whether it could make Call of Duty exclusive to the Xbox platform. Just recently, Xbox chief Phil Spencer made his most definitive statement yet on Call of Duty’s future, saying that “as long as there’s a PlayStation out there to ship to,” Microsoft will keep publishing Call of Duty to Sony consoles. It was also claimed that PlayStation boss Jim Ryan recently met with EU regulators in Brussels to voice Sony’s concerns surrounding the deal. Elsewhere, Spencer said he’s confident that the deal will go through and has called the further scrutiny of the deal “warranted” due to its size. The Competition and Markets Authority’s first deadline for the public’s opinion on the Activision Blizzard deal has now passed. The regulator is expected to make a decision on the deal in March 2023.
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