Report: Tencent Gives Blessing to Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Acquisition

Logo Credit: Activision Blizzard

At least one third-party has raised concerns with Chinese government regulators about Microsoft’s proposed $69B USD acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, according to Deal Reporter. The third-party objector who expressed concerns to the Chinese government watchdog agency, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), was not disclosed.

The report also indicated that Tencent Holdings (which owns Riot Games and has stakes in Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Epic Games) has no objections to the acquisition.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard filed the proposed transaction in April of 2022 with SAMR as a “simplified procedure,” but the government agency apparently declined and forced them to file under normal procedure rules, which tends to take a lot longer.

While Microsoft might not be concerned about getting government approval right now as it looks to deal with objection in the European Union (European Commission), the UK (Competition & Markets Authority), and the United States (Federal Trade Commission), disapproval from the Chinese government would make it very difficult to do business in mainland China should the deal be approved everywhere else.

On a related note, a new report from Florian Mueller at FOSS Patents shows that just days after the CMA released preliminary objections to the acquisition, Sony executives flew from London to Seattle to meet with Microsoft about hashing out a long-term Call of Duty licensing deal. While details of what kind of deal would satisfy the PlayStation maker at this point, there’s ample evidence in the report that a Sony-owned Falcon 8X was in Seattle and Los Angeles earlier this month.