EU Set To Decide On Microsoft's Bethesda Acquisition By March 5

The EU is set to rule on Microsoft's $7.5bn purchase of ZeniMax by March 5. A filing on the European Commission's website shows that the tech giant requested approval for the deal on January 29. [Update: With the EU approval out of the way, the Microsoft-Bethesda deal is official.]

Reuters reports that the EU's antitrust regulators can approve the deal during the preliminary review stage or open a full-scale investigation if it has concerns.

Microsoft announced its intention to purchase ZeniMax last September, with the blockbuster deal boosting Xbox's first-party offerings and setting it up to better compete with Sony and Nintendo. Pending approval, Microsoft has said it intends for the deal to close by the second half of its current fiscal year.

ZeniMax is the parent company of Bethesda Works and its many studios, including Bethesda Game Studios and id Software. As outlined in an Xbox blog post announcing the acquisition, the deal includes the studios behind franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, Doom, Dishonored, Prey, and Quake, along with upcoming games like Starfield, increasing the Xbox Games Studio lineup from 15 internal studios to 23.