Ukraine’s competition regulator has cleared Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision

Microsoft‘s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been approved by Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee.

In a statement released on Thursday, the regulator said it wasn’t concerned that the $69 billion deal might lead to a substantial lessening of competition in any relevant markets.

The controversial acquisition has also been approved in Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Serbia, Chile, Japan and South Africa.

Ukraine’s announcement comes two days after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said it was blocking the deal from happening globally over concerns it would “alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market, leading to reduced innovation and less choice” for players in the coming years.

Microsoft and Activision have confirmed plans to appeal the ruling, which the former has called “bad for Britain” and the latter has labelled “irrational”.

Neither company offers cloud gaming services in Ukraine, so this wasn’t a consideration for the country’s competition watchdog.

On Friday, Microsoft announced another game distribution agreement designed to allay regulatory concerns over its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The company said it had signed a 10-year agreement to stream Xbox PC games, as well as Activision Blizzard titles should the acquisition close, with Spanish cloud gaming platform Nware.