South Korea approves merger of Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard as both companies continue to fight UK regulators

By Jason Junior On May 31, 2023

There has been another plodding step forward in Microsoft’s billion-dollar buyout of Activision-Blizzard, as reports from Korea Xbox News have now confirmed that South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has cleared the merger to move forward in the country. According to the KFTC ruling, the deal will have no effect on competition in the country and that it will strenghen Microsoft’s competitive stance and encourage competition overall in the console gaming market.

This marks yet another global green light for the transaction, as it has already been cleared by China, the 27 nations that make up the European Union, Japan, and Brazil, among others. The two countries that are holding out on the merger continue to be the US and the UK.

On the subject of UK regulators’ block of the deal, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has shared details of Microsoft’s appeal: Microsoft claims that government regulators have made “fundamental errors” in their assessment of the company’s cloud gaming position, ignored agreements made with cloud gaming providers, and “erred in law” by not considering its proposed remedies to assuage the CMA’s concerns.

Blizzard has also filed its own appeal in support of Microsoft, with a company spokesperson saying the CMA’s decision “ignores the facts, the law, and all commercial reality” and stating that Blizzard is “looking forward to working with [Microsoft] to get this deeply flawed decision reversed.”

KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission) judged that the merger of MS-ABK will strengthen the competitiveness of MS, the third player in console space, and may promote competition in the console gaming market. https://t.co/Nu9LCSYtbA pic.twitter.com/kfiFffblLI

— Xbox News for Koreans 🇰🇷 – 네이버 Xbox 정보 카페 (@KoreaXboxnews) May 30, 2023

Activision-Blizzard is considered a controversial gaming company owing to a long string of scandals, including the Blitzchung boycott, mass layoffs, labor disputes, pay disparities, sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits, federal settlements, executive misconduct, pipeline issues, messy financials, declining titles, failed partnerships, widespread illegal unionbusting, disastrous management, brain drain, bungled OW2 PvE, WoW Classic RMT, and the still-astonishing revelation that the CEO threatened to have his assistant murdered. As of 2023, the company is (theoretically) being acquired by Microsoft.

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