Microsoft got the green light of Saudi Arabia to its controversial $A100 billion proposal to acquire Activision Blizzard – the largest such acquisition in the gaming industry – which is bringing the company one step closer to closing the deal.
The General Authority for Competition, Saudi Arabia’s regulatory body, has approved the massive deal that, on account of its size and scale, is being scrutinized by regulatory and anti-competition entities worldwide.
Countries like Brazil have been a battleground for Microsoft while the UK and the United States are still preparing their statements and findings, with the Brazilian government opening the floor for comments and asking for opinions from competitors.
Arguing that it sees no way to compete with the popular shooter Call of Duty that Activision Blizzard publishes PlayStation’s maker Sony recently objected to the potential deal.
Since Microsoft, which makes Playstation rival Xbox, sold 50% fewer consoles than Sony, it claims that the acquisition would help the company compete.
It also pointed out that Sony’s attempt to call for fair competition goes strongly against its market leadership focused on exclusivity – claiming also that Sony is paying developers to avoid rival platforms, such as Xbox Game Pass – and forged from a device-centric strategy.
The Kingdom is the first country to officially announce its approval, stating it has no objection to the proposal. It’ll undoubtedly benefit from Microsoft’s acquisition considering that the Saudi Private Investment Fund (PIF) owns 13% of Activision Blizzard shares.
Among the PIF’s investments worth billions of dollars is the one in Embracer Group, which recently announced plans to purchase many companies, including the Lord of the Rings IP, and properties after having bought several studios from Square Enix, who was afraid they “cannibalized” Japanese game sales.
The latest deals only accelerate the consolidation of video game developers that is happening worldwide with Embracer being perhaps the largest purchaser.
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