China: Announced SAMR approval of Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard

On 18 May 2023, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced that it had concluded its investigation and approved Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard and Microsoft are both developers and publishers of online games. In its investigation, the SAMR assessed the impact the acquisition could have on competition in online game distribution and found that it would not negatively impact the competition in the market.