The European Union (EU) is reportedly planning to submit a statement of objections to Microsoft regarding its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Microsoft is likely to receive an EU antitrust warning regarding its $68.7 billion acquisition of the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher, adding to the growing list of organisations raising concerns about the deal.
The statement of objections charge sheet is expected to be sent in the coming weeks, though Microsoft has seemingly maintained that it's confident in the deal's success. "We're continuing to work with the European Commission to address any marketplace concerns," it said. "Our goal is to bring more games to more people, and this deal will further that goal."
The deal has been scrutinised elsewhere as well, including by various U.S. senators, the city of New York, and the U.S. Justice Department, and finally headlined by the Federal Trade Commission suing to block the deal in December.
The UK government's Competitions and Markets authority was also forced to extend its investigation into the deal earlier this month due to its complexity and the lengthy responses provided by both Microsoft and Sony.
In one of these responses released earlier in October, Microsoft essentially said that PlayStation is too big to fail even if it did acquire these games, and that Sony already has way more exclusives anyway.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
