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EU clears Activision Blizzard merger

17 April 2008 0:22 by James "Dela" Delahunty

The European Commission has decided that the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, which would create a new company called Activision Blizzard, will not "significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or any substantial part of it." This outcome removes another roadblock from the impending merger, worth around $18.9 billion.

It was announced in December 2007 and considering it involves the world's number two and number three in the games industry, some red flags were raised. According to the EC's findings, the unified entity will "continue to face several strong, effective competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft."

One thing that was noted by the European Commission was Vivendi's ownership of Universal Music Group (UMG), which might make it easier for games published by Activision Blizzard to get licensing deals with UMG. However, the EC said that other studios still have a significantly large portfolio of music rights to choose from provided by other suppliers.

The would-be Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, said the merger is moving ahead as anticipated and should be concluded by June.

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Permalink to this article | Topic: Consoles