EU regulators extend deadline for Microsoft, Activision deal to April 25

EU antitrust regulators have extended their deadline for a decision on Microsoft's $69-billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" maker Activision to April 25, according to a European Commission filing on Wednesday.

The Xbox maker announced the Activision Blizzard deal in January last year to help it compete better with leaders Tencent and Sony but has encountered regulatory hurdles in Europe, Britain and the United States.

It is expected to offer remedies to the EU competition enforcer soon.


Last month, Microsoft Corp struck a 10-year deal to bring Activision games to Nvidia Corp's gaming platform, if the Xbox maker is allowed to complete the acquisition.

Regulators and competitors like Sony have come out hard against the proposed Microsoft-Activision tie-up.

Britain earlier this month said the deal could harm gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and PlayStation, result in higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation for millions of players, as well as stifling competition in cloud gaming.

A Nvidia deal could allay those concerns by ensuring more ways for consumers to get games controlled by Microsoft.

Microsoft President Brad Smith told a news conference on Tuesday he was now more optimistic of getting the Activision acquisition done after the Nvidia licensing deal as well as a similar arrangement with Nintendo Co Ltd.

Phil Eisler, vice president and general manager of Nvidia's GeForce Now segment, said that titles such that "Call of Duty" will not be available on Nvidia's service until Microsoft has completed its acquisition of Activision but that other Microsoft-owned titles such as "Minecraft" are covered immediately under the 10-year license deal.

"We were a little concerned about it at the beginning," Eisler said of the Microsoft-Activision deal. "But then we reached out to Microsoft, and they were very open about wanting to enable cloud gaming and work with us on a 10-year license agreement. So over time, they made us more and more comfortable with it."