The month of May is over, and Microsoft managed to get one last regulator to approve its merger with Activision Blizzard.
Per Korea Xbox News, and later corroborated to GamesIndustry, South Korea recently gave its support to the $68.7 billion deal. Similar to Brazil and Saudi Arabia, the country's approval was granted without any condition placed on either of the two game companies.
Interestingly, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) reportedly believes the merger will be beneficial to the industry at large. It found that Microsoft's competitiveness would be "strengthened," particularly for console games. And it also believes there's "no concern" of less competition in Korea's video game market.
It's another regulator win for Microsoft, but conflict persists
Throughout May, Microsoft has also managed to secure approvals from China and the European Commission (EU). The latter hasn't been without controversy, as UK regulator the CMA has made efforts to block the merger and condemned the EU for its approval.
Late last week, Microsoft filed an appeal against the CMA's block. The Xbox maker believes the CMA had "fundamental errors" when it chose to reject the Microsoft-Activision merger, and wants the decision to be completely quashed.
Outside of the CMA, US regulator the FTC is also working to stop the merger. The FTC's lawsuit filed in December 2022 has put Microsoft on the defensive, and as of this past March, it needed internal documents from Sony to prove that its deal wouldn't leave Sony in the vulnerable state the PlayStation maker has repeatedly implied.
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