China Approves Activision Blizzard's acquisition by Microsoft.

Microsoft announced Friday that China has unconditionally approved its plan to acquire video game company 'Activision Blizzard', despite antitrust opposition in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The fact that Activision Blizzard earlier this year stopped selling many of its games in mainland China due to a disagreement with its local publishing partner, NetEase, complicates China's approval.

The two largest economies, China and the European Union have approved Microsoft's proposed $69 billion acquisition of the California-based game publisher responsible for hit games like Candy Crush, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft.

On the condition that Microsoft makes several commitments to increase competition in the nascent cloud-based gaming market, European regulators speaking for the 27-nation bloc approved the deal on Monday. 

Microsoft claims that the State Administration for Market Regulation in China gave it the green light without any conditions. However, as of late Friday, the announcement still needs to be made on the agency's website.

Game developers must work collaboratively with a Chinese publisher to release games in mainland China. Furthermore, because of a conflict between Activision subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment and its Chinese partner, NetEase, popular Activision Blizzard franchises like World of Warcraft, the StarCraft series, Overwatch, and Diablo have been put on hold since earlier this year.

In 2008, Blizzard and NetEase began a long-term partnership that allowed NetEase to develop into the second-largest games distributor in China, behind Tencent.

A public dispute between the two companies resulted from the American company's announcement late last year that it would suspend most of its game services in China once current licensing agreements expired.

Microsoft claims that 37 nations, including the 27 in the EU and 10 others like China, Japan, and Brazil, have approved its proposed accession of Activision, which is regarded as the most  precious tech deal in history. The blockbuster deal is still in jeopardy  however, as it was rejected by British controllers and is being  defied by American authorities.