China has approved Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Well if China are onboard with it…

China’s antitrust regulator has approved Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The decision follows the EU’s approval of the deallast week.

“China’s unconditional clearance of our acquisition of Activision Blizzard follows clearance decisions from jurisdictions such as the European Union and Japan, bringing the total to 37 countries representing more than two billion people,” says a Microsoft statement on the approval providedto Eurogamer.

“The acquisition combined with our recent commitments to the European Commission will empower consumers worldwide to play more games on more devices.”

Last month the proposed acquisiton wasblocked by the UK’s Competition And Markets Authority, who cited concerns that the merger could impact competition in the nascent cloud gaming space in which Xbox Game Pass is the current leader. Microsoft announced they would appeal the decision.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have likewisemoved to block the deal, with hearings due to begin later this year.

Microsoft have attempted to reassure regulators by signing deals to bring their games to rival cloud streaming services, therefore supposedly preventing Activision Blizzard’s games being exclusive to Game Pass or Xbox. One such deal involves bringingall Xbox PC games to GeForce Now, Nvidia’s cloud streaming service, for a 10-year period. The deal would include Call Of Duty should Microsoft come to own it.