Microsoft has just received some good news, right after South Korea decided to approve Microsoft’s Activision deal to acquire Blizzard. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has come to the conclusion that the purchase of Activision Blizzard will not negatively impact their competitors, and it is not a risk for the Asian country’s industry. Due to this reason, Microsoft is now backed-up by 39 nations to complete the acquisition.
The KFTC informed it does not have any concerns regarding the Activision Blizzard purchase. After carrying out a research, the commission concluded that the popularity of Activision’s Blizzard video games is fairly low in the nation. Because of this, the potential impact it might have in the South Korean market is not concerning. In consequence, Microsoft will be able to continue their deal without any problem. An official statement released by the entity reads:
“The combined market share of games developed and distributed by Microsoft and Blizzard is small, the popularity of Blizzard’s major games in Korea is not as high as overseas, and there are a number of popular game developers that competitors can deal with alternatively, so there is no possibility of foreclosure to exclude competing game service companies”
The KFTC also explained that, after contacting regulators in other countries, they understand the different perspectives of each country when it comes to approving the deal. This is because Activision Blizzard video games have high demand in the West. In this line, judgements on the acquisition case are subject to change based on the analysis of the impact the merger could have in each country.
The case has now a total of about 40 approvals. Earlier this month, The European Commission and China’s regulation both passed the deal, and Microsoft would be owning popular video games such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft in these territories.
