Chile Approves Microsoft’s Purchase Of Activision Blizzard

There’s some good-ish news on the Microsoft buying Activision-Blizzard front. That is, of course, if you’re hoping for the purchase to go through. Another country – this time Chile – has approved the purchase. That makes for four countries that are okay with it. The other three are Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia.

The organization responsible for market regulation in Chile, The Fiscalia Nacional Economica (FNE), approved the almost $70 billion purchase stating that it doesn’t believe the purchase will have a negative impact on competition. According to the approval release, the FNE’s decision rests on it believing that “Xbox and Activision’s combined presence in the video game market” isn’t big enough to raise concerns about competition. The FNE even found that their combined “presence” was equal to that of “relevant competitors”.

Of course, this is just the fourth country to okay the purchase, and it’s taken right around a year to get that far. In the meantime, there are some definite holdouts. The UK is still investigating the purchase, while in the US the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has gone so far as to announce they’re suing Microsoft for attempting the acquisition. In the FTC’s case, they feel the purchase would offer the Xbox “an unfair advantage” in the console wars.

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges. CEO Bobby Kotick is alleged to have known about such actions within his company – and performed some himself – and shielded the perpetrators from consequences.