作者：丁公 来源：原创 发布日期：08-22
A | LONDON -- Microsoft’s purchase of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard won final approval Friday from Britain’s competition watchdog, reversing its earlier decision to block the $69 billion gaming deal and removing the final obstacle for one of the largest tech transactions in history.The Xbox maker’s quest to acquire Activision — maker of other blockbuster games like Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, Diablo and Overwatch — could close imminently ahead of a Wednesday deadline. That would wrap up a merger delayed for close to two years by intense scrutiny from authorities around the world.The blessing from the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority was expected after it gave preliminary approval last month to a revamped Microsoft proposal meant to address concerns that the deal would harm competition and hurt gamers, especially in the emerging cloud gaming market where players can avoid buying pricey consoles and stream games to their tablets or phones. “The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers,” the watchdog said. Microsoft was grateful for the “thorough review and decision” on a tie-up that “will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide,” President Brad Smith said.Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says the game maker looks "forward to becoming part of the Xbox Team.”The deal will benefit gamers and be “productive for the gaming industry as a whole," said Josh Chapman, managing partner at venture capital firm Konvoy, which invests in video game startups.However, it also tilts the “balance of power significantly" in favor of Microsoft, whose Xbox console has lagged behind Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo, said George Jijiashvili, senior principal analyst at tech research and advisory firm Omdia. Microsoft “now has a big opportunity to dictate the future of the games industry,” he said. Since the deal was announced in January 2022, Microsoft has secured approvals from antitrust authorities covering more than 40 countries. Crucially, it got a thumbs-up from the 27-nation European Union after agreeing to allow users and cloud gaming platforms to stream its titles without paying royalties for 10 years.But the deal faced resistance from British and American regulators who worried it would stifle competition in the video game industry. Top rival Sony also feared it would limit PlayStation gamers’ access to Call of Duty, Activision’s long-running military shooter series. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission lost a court bid to pause the deal so that its in-house judge could review it. The FTC hasn't given up, appealing the decision and last month filing notice of its plan to resume that trial. That signals the U.S. regulator's intention to unwind the deal even after it closes. In the meantime, the U.K. regulator was the last major hurdle to the transaction going through. To gets its approval, Microsoft will sell off cloud streaming rights outside the EU and three other European countries for all current and new Activision games released over the next 15 years to French game studio Ubisoft Entertainment. British regulators had initially blocked the transaction over concerns Microsoft could withhold Activision titles from the cloud gaming market. Then, in an unprecedented move, the U.K. watchdog said it needed to reconsider.One factor was the EU’s approval, granted after Microsoft promised to automatically license Activision titles royalty-free to cloud gaming platforms. Another “material change of circumstance,” according to court documents, was an agreement Microsoft signed with Sony to make Call of Duty available on PlayStation for at least 10 years.But the regulator still criticized how the deal came together and warned other companies not to use the “tactics employed by Microsoft.”“Microsoft had the chance to restructure during our initial investigation but instead continued to insist on a package of measures that we told them simply wouldn’t work,” the watchdog's CEO, Sarah Cardell, said in a statement. "Dragging out proceedings in this way only wastes time and money.”The U.K. regulator “deserves credit for imposing a structural remedy on Microsoft that is significantly stronger than the weak commitments accepted by the European Commission," said Max von Thun, director of the Europe office of the Open Markets Institute, a proponent of stronger antitrust enforcement. But the CMA's flip-flopping makes the U.K. regulator look “weak and indecisive,” he said.“Moving forward, there is now a serious risk that in their dealings with the CMA, merging companies and their advisors will no longer take no for an answer,” von Thun said. ___AP Technology Writer Matt O’Brien contributed from Providence, Rhode Island.。 9月27日，市委副书记、市长王庆海会见来辽参加第五届中国辽宁国际投资贸易洽谈会并到抚访问的韩国金泉市市长金忠燮一行。双方就进一步扩大经贸合作、加强人文交流等进行深入交流。 王庆海对金忠燮一行表示欢迎，对即将启幕的“金泉市市民节”和“金泉市民体育大会”提前表示祝贺。他说，2022年，习近平主席会见尹锡悦总统时提出，愿同韩方一道维护、巩固、发展好中韩关系。今年4月，省委书记郝鹏率辽宁省经贸合作代表团访问韩国，巩固深化了辽宁与韩国友好合作基础。抚顺市与金泉市自2011年缔结友好城市以来，在经济贸易、农业技术、旅游观光、文化体育等领域交流频繁、成果丰硕。当前，抚顺市正深入贯彻习近平主席重要指示精神，积极参与东北海陆大通道和东北亚开放合作枢纽地建设，以高水平开放引领高质量发展。金泉市在韩国被称为“忠、孝、礼”的故乡，历史文化悠久，自然资源丰富，与抚顺市有较强的产业关联性和互补性。希望双方进一步密切往来、厚植友谊，不断加深在农业、物流、体育等领域的务实合作，实现互利共赢、共同发展。
B | 金忠燮感谢抚顺市的热情接待，对抚顺市近年来经济社会发展取得的成绩给予高度评价。他说，金泉市与抚顺市缔结友好城市13年来，建立了深厚的友谊，双方在农业技术、农产品进出口贸易以及人文交流等方面广泛互动、紧密合作，取得了明显成效。希望以此次访问为契机，进一步扩大两市在农产品、新能源、交通物流、人文旅游、青少年交流等方面的友好交往，拓展合作空间，共享合作成果，携手推进两市友好关系迈上新台阶。 在抚期间，金忠燮一行还到辽宁三友农业生物科技集团、辽宁大自然仙灵芝生物科技有限公司、瑞尔赫满绣文化创意有限公司、抚顺新钢铁有限责任公司及抚顺矿业集团西露天矿等地开展考察访问。 副市长王进参加会见及相关活动。 责任编辑：刘春阳。
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