EU competition regulators have cleared Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, as remedies offered by the US company resolved their concerns.
The EU's approval is a huge win for Microsoft as it attempts the biggest takeover in gaming history — three weeks after British regulators blocked the deal — and with US authorities still trying to stop it.
Microsoft's remedies centred on 10-year free licensing deals allowing users to stream Activision games they purchase on any cloud streaming platform, the European Commission said.
“The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation,” the EU competition watchdog said.
In cloud gaming, players stream games on mobile phones and hand-held devices they already own.
The takeover would give Microsoft control of hugely popular titles including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.
The all-cash deal, first announced more than a year ago, has been scrutinised by regulators amid fears that it would give Microsoft and its Xbox console control of Activision’s hit games.
“Video games attract billions of users all over the world. In such a fast-growing and dynamic industry, it is crucial to protect competition and innovation,” said EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
“Our decision represents an important step in this direction, by bringing Activision's popular games to many more devices and consumers than before thanks to cloud game streaming.
“The commitments offered by Microsoft will enable for the first time the streaming of such games in any cloud game streaming services, enhancing competition and opportunities for growth.”
In the agreement, Microsoft promises to allow gamers to stream Activision's titles on any cloud gaming streaming services operating in Europe.
“The European Commission has required Microsoft to license popular Activision Blizzard games automatically to competing cloud gaming services,” Microsoft vice chairman Brad Smith said.
“This will apply globally and will empower millions of consumers worldwide to play these games on any device they choose.”
Fierce opposition to the deal was partly driven by rival Sony, which makes the PlayStation gaming system.
Microsoft sought to counter the resistance by striking a deal to licence Activision titles.
With the EU that has worked, but not for regulators in the UK.
In April, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority watchdog blocked the takeover saying it would harm competition in cloud gaming.
It added that Microsoft's commitment to offer access to Activision's multibillion-dollar Call of Duty games to leading cloud-gaming platforms would not remedy its concerns.
On Monday, CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said authorities in the UK “stand by” the decision to block the deal because promises from Microsoft were not enough.
“Microsoft's proposals, accepted by the European Commission today, would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next 10 years,” she said.
“They would replace a free, open and competitive market with one subject to ongoing regulation of the games Microsoft sells, the platforms to which it sells them and the conditions of sale.”
If a regulator in one country does not approve a takeover, the merged company will not be able to operate in that market.
While Britain is a smaller market compared with the EU and the US, millions use Microsoft products.
The US Federal Trade Commission has also launched legal action to block the deal.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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-5 C Conners (Can)
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Level B DeChambeau (US), J Rose (Eng)
1 L Westwood (Eng), J Spieth (US)
3 R McIlroy (NI)
4 D Johnson (US)
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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Name: Younis Al Balooshi
Nationality: Emirati
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
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Price: Dh380,000
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Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Torque: 530Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
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On sale: Now
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
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