Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition gets vote of support from key European trade union

The European Games Developer Federation has officially lent its support to Microsoft in its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Earlier this week on January 16, the EGDF published its official statement on the potential acquisition, making its stance clear. "EGDF supports Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition, as its potential positive impacts on the competition in game markets, in general, outweigh the limited console and subscription market-specific competition concerns," the statement reads.

"Furthermore, in the console game markets, Sony is a clear market leader with its PlayStation platform, and Microsoft is still in a challenger position," the trade federation continues. However, further down in the statement, the organization says it has been "concerned about the recent consolidation of the global games industry" at large.

The EGDF is a trade federation which represents game development studios in 21 countries across Europe. The list includes developers in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, and the United Kingdom, as the latter's move to leave the European Union hasn't affected its membership status of the trade federation.

The EGDF is clearly following Microsoft's line of thinking, as the latter has previously argued that Sony would still be a market leader in games, even if Microsoft did acquire Activision Blizzard. As for other third parties, Google and Nvidia recently expressed concern to the U.S.'s Financial Trade Commission over the potential acquisition, believing Microsoft would have an unfair advantage via the deal.

As for matters in the U.S., the FTC isn't due to hear Microsoft's case for acquiring Activision Blizzard in court until August, which means we could be waiting until towards the end of the year for a verdict from the government agency. 

Previously, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he was "very, very confident" about the deal between the two companies closing without any major concessions or hinderances.