In a dramatic turn of events for Sony and Playstation, the Brazilian equivalent of the FTC or the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), gave last night the thumbs up for Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard.
And the big highlight is the approval is UNCONDITIONED.
The thing (and bad for Sony’s effort on disrupting the acquisition) is that CADE ignored the concerts of Sony stating that its job isn't to protect "specific competitors", but do acknowledge that the entry of Activision Blizzard as a new family member of Xbox Game Studios will have negative effect on Sony’s gaming market share.
In simple words, CADE did not find anything that could affect at the consumer level, which has been the strong point of this transaction since day 1.
As of the writing of this, Sony has not responded to Brazil's approval of the acquisition which ironically, is the first market Sony expressed concern of Microsoft power gaining if allowed to buy the gaming conglomerate.
This is the second market that has given the OK for Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard, announced in November and valued as a little more of $69 billion, the biggest investment for Xbox to date, after Saudi Arabia did not object from their side.
The regulators at UK started their Phase 2 or a more deep scrutiny on the transaction and words are that we are about to hear from FTC on the USA’ side if they will legally object or not.