EU Antitrust Chief Approves Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Deal Despite CMA Block and PlayStation's Sales Lead.

The European Union has approved Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, with EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager stating that the deal was thoroughly investigated to ensure it wouldn't harm gamers. Vestager also noted that Sony's PlayStation outsells Microsoft's Xbox by a ratio of 4:1 in the EU. The EU had concerns about the cloud gaming space, but Microsoft's 10-year deals with other cloud streaming providers outside of Microsoft's helped the EU approve the deal. The US has yet to give the green light, with a hearing scheduled for early August 2023.