A new country’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has approved Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard today.
Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition Gains New Approval
According to a new post by the Korean FTC on its official website, it has now approved Microsoft’s deal with Activision Blizzard and notes that it has “unconditionally cleared” it. It says that it has “no concerns” about the potential restriction of competition if Blizzard games are made exclusive.
KFTC Not Worried at All
There is actually a reason for KFTC’s low concern for the deal. It said that Activision Blizzard games’ popularity in South Korea is quite low so their importance to platform holders is not as important. Unlike other countries where Activision Blizzard games are super popular, this deal will not deal a heavy blow to other competitors in the region’s gaming industry.
Here’s a translated version of KFTC’s statement:
“The combined market share of games developed and distributed by Microsoft and Blizzard is small, the popularity of Blizzard’s major games in Korea is not as high as overseas, and there are a number of popular game developers that competitors can deal with alternatively, so there is no possibility of foreclosure to exclude competing game service companies
“Even in the event of a blockade, the effect of converting competitors’ consumers to its service subscribers is minimal due to the low popularity of Blizzard’s games, and competitors have a significant market share, so there is no risk of exclusion from competition.”
KFTC Took Opinions from Other Countries
KFTC actually consulted with other countries to get their opinions on the deal. The group noted that the others have different decisions because Activision Blizzard’s games are quite famous in those regions. Here’s the actual translated statement from the document:
“Considering that this is a merger between global companies, the KFTC exchanged views with major overseas competition authorities through several video conferences and collected opinions from stakeholders, including competitors, to reach a final conclusion based on a multifaceted analysis of the impact of the merger on the domestic market.
“However, the different judgments on whether to approve this case are due to the significant differences in the competitive situation of the gaming market in each country and the fact that the competition authorities of each country focused on the impact on their domestic markets.”
Inching Closer to Victory
With this, Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition deal is going smoothly. Only a few countries have shown resistance, so this would only be a matter of time now.