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By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators will approve Microsoft Corp.’s $69 Billion acquisition of Activision in the next few days, with the most likely date being May 15, according to people familiar with the situation.
The European Commission is expected to approve the largest gaming deal ever, just three weeks after UK Competition Authority blocked it, citing concerns that the deal would hamper competition in cloud gaming.
Reuters reported in March that the EU antitrust enforcer was expected to approve the acquisition of Microsoft after it agreed to licensing agreements with cloud streaming competitors including Nvidia and Ukraine’s Boosteroid, as well as Japan’s Ubitus.
If the acquisition goes through, it has also made agreements with Nintendo, and U.S. distributor Valve Corp., which owns the largest video game distribution platform in the world, Steam. This will allow them to offer Call of Duty on their respective gaming platforms.
The Commission declined to make any comments. It has given itself a deadline of May 22 for its decision.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also wants to stop it.
(Reporting and editing by Kirby Donovan; Foo Yunchee)