Xbox head Phil Spencer remains confident that Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision-Blizzard will go through. Lawmakers around the world are reviewing Microsoft’s purchase of Activision-Blizzard to determine whether the acquisition would violate antitrust laws, among other concerns over the potential deal. Should the deal go through, Microsoft would own a number of immensely popular franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo.

The $68.7 billion deal is currently being scrutinized by governing bodies in the United States, the European Union, and the UK, where a regulatory body revealed mostly positive public reactions to Microsoft's proposed acquisition. The European Union is rumored to have a long list of potential objections to the deal, including whether the acquisition would limit competition in the videogame market. Microsoft contends that Sony is "too big to fail," and that acquiring Activision-Blizzard will cause little to no harm to Sony’s market share. Microsoft has reportedly assured Sony that they would still retain access to titles like Call of Duty should the deal go through.

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In an interview with IGN, CEO of Microsoft gaming, Phil Spencer, expressed his confidence in the massive deal’s approval but admitted that navigating the jumble of legal complexities, both in the US and abroad, has been a learning experience for him. Spencer admits he didn’t know what the deal would require of him. Conversations with figures central to investigations have boosted his knowledge and subsequently his confidence in the deal’s closure.

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Spencer says that he and Microsoft’s Xbox division are working together with regulatory boards to provide all information and interviews needed to help the process go as smoothly as possible. He added that complying with several ongoing international investigations has taught him about how much time, travel, and cooperative conversation is required to help regulators understand Xbox’s place in the gaming industry, not just in its goals within the wider marketplace, but how a company of their size functions. Key to his cooperation is helping regulators understand the industry-wide impact an Activision-Blizzard acquisition would have on the gaming market, likely in the form of explaining how Microsoft’s sole control over one of gaming’s biggest companies would not harm the industry overall.

All of this comes amid continued concerns over Activision-Blizzard’s corporate culture. Plummeting stock prices following a series of sexual harassment claims leveled by Activision-Blizzard employees at upper management likely played a large role in Microsoft’s purchase in the first place. Earlier this week, Blizzard fired one of the co-leads of Wow Classic, Brian Birmingham, after he protested Blizzard’s employee ranking system that forced him to meet a quota of underperforming employees. Birmingham argues that the system would have forced him to give a specific employee a lower ranking than they deserved.

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Source: IGN