IT giant Microsoft announced that it would approve the acquisition plan after the Japan Fair Trade Commission reviewed its plan to acquire a major U.S. game company, saying that it would not limit competition in the domestic game market.
In January last year, Microsoft announced that it would acquire Activision Blizzard, a major American game company that produces popular games such as Call of Duty, for 1.687 billion dollars, or about 9 trillion yen in Japan yen.
In response, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) investigated Microsoft's acquisition plan to see if there were any antitrust issues and announced the results.
According to the report, Microsoft's share of the domestic game console market is less than 5%, ranking third, and Activision Blizzard's software market share is less than 3%, ranking eighth, which is low, and even if Microsoft's acquisition is realized, competition will not be restricted.
For this reason, the Japan Fair Trade Commission has decided to approve the acquisition plan, saying that there are no problems with it.
On the other hand, the FTC = Federal Trade Commission in the United States filed a lawsuit in December last year to block the plan, saying that it may hinder market competition.
Regarding the divergence between Japanese and U.S. regulators, the Japan Fair Trade Commission said, "It seems that the judgment was divided because the market conditions are different from those in the United States, such as the popularity and sales of game consoles and software."