BRUSSELS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- French communications company Vivendi won approval from the European Union (EU) on Wednesday to buy U.S. publisher of game software Activision for 9.8 billion U.S. dollars.

    "The proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition," the European Commission, the EU's antitrust watchdog, said in a statement.

    Activision develops, publishes and distributes game software for PCs, video game consoles and portable consoles. Vivendi is a communication and media group with activities in the music, TV, cinema, telecommunications and video games.

    Vivendi announced in December to merger its games subsidiary with Activision and to hold 52 percent stake in a new industry giant called Activision Blizzard.

    The merged company will have estimated annual revenue of 3.8 billion U.S. dollars, rivaling that of Electronic Arts, the world's biggest independent game publisher.