​

As Microsoft's acquisition of the gaming giant, Activision, is wrapping up, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released an update on its on-going review regarding their standing on the acquisition.

On October 16th, the ACCC released an update on their official governmental website after an 8 month hiatus from their last update in February, 2023, stating that they will be discontinuing their review for the Microsoft/Activision acquisition given the outcomes and status of other international regulators about the situation at the current time, effectively marking the status of the review that started all the way back in June 20th, 2022 as "Completed".

After considering the status and outcomes of other international regulators’ reviews and changes to the transaction structure, including related agreements with third parties, the ACCC discontinued its review of the acquisition and does not intend to take any further action.

Adding this alongside the CMA's decisions, only the FTC's final hearing about the acquisition remains, as they still have the case issued as "Pending", with their final update being on October 11th, 2023.

Source

 

[Jackson Ferrell]

While the possibilities of this acquisition could be considered positive (i.e. games coming to other platforms etc), if you know how many companies already fall under Microsoft's umbrella (not just videogames) then you'll realise the potential risks. Microsoft shouldn't be this big, it baffles me why they let this happen.