Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition has been approved in China

China has joined the European Commission in approving Microsoft's attempt to acquire publisher Activision Blizzard.

The details:

• The Chinese antitrust regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation, has given the $69 billion deal the thumbs up, according to SeekingAlpha. This comes just a few weeks after the European Commission (EC) approved the acquisition after Microsoft addressed the EC's concerns about cloud gaming.
• "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," Microsoft said in a statement to Eurogamer, followed by "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 UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the deal in the country, citing similar concerns to the EC about Microsoft's control over the cloud gaming market. It claimed that the tech giant already controls 60-70% of the cloud gaming market and that the acquisition would strengthen it even further as it could choose to make Activision Blizzard's titles exclusive to Game Pass. Prior to the ruling, Microsoft attempted to address this concern by announcing partnerships with Nvidia, Boosteroid, Ubitus, EE, and now Nware, but the CMA stated that it would not change its position.
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit to block the acquisition, claiming that it would significantly harm competition in the gaming industry, which Microsoft has strongly denied. Despite the ongoing lawsuit, both companies have previously stated that they intend to continue pushing for the deal to close as soon as possible.

More Activision Blizzard news:

• Activision has shut down the fan-made Call of Duty project, SM2, with a cease-and-desist order after almost two years of development, resulting in the team shutting down its operations. The decision has caused outrage among fans of the franchise, as the legal move seemingly came out of nowhere.
• Blizzard has announced the cancellation of Overwatch 2's highly anticipated PvE hero mode for the "good of the game." The mode was announced alongside the sequel and was expected to include character progression systems and a new story, with the company stating that "similar" content will be added in a different manner.