Orange County’s biggest deal yet got the green light from the European Union on Wednesday.
The European Commission cleared France’s Vivendi SA to combine its video game business Vivendi Games, made up largely by Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc., with Santa Monica-based Activision Inc.
The $19 billion deal, first announced in December, is set to close after the EU found it wouldn’t threaten competition, according to a report from the Agence France-Presse.
A probe into the transaction showed that the “overlaps between the activities of Vivendi and Activision in relation to game software publishing are limited,” according to the report.
The combined company, dubbed Activision Blizzard, still faces competition from other rivals, including Electronic Arts Inc. and game console manufacturers Sony Corp., Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp.
For 2007, sales from Blizzard made up about $1.2 billion, or 80%, of Vivendi’s gaming division sales.
Vivendi is set to end up with a 68% stake in Activision Blizzard.
The move is set to make Activision Blizzard the biggest video game developer with yearly sales of $4 billion.
