Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard is becoming a never-ending story. After things looked pretty good for Microsoft in the USA, the competent authority FTC has now filed a lawsuit and is trying to block the deal!
Most recently, the report had suggested that the members of the US Federal Trade Commission, FTC for short, were at odds with regard to the treatment of the planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft and that it would be 2:2 if the committee voted. That’s also why it looked rather good for Microsoft to get the green light for the deal straight away. But now it is completely different!
Apparently, Chairwoman Khan has prevailed to block the $68.7 billion deal and send a signal that US competition watchdogs can take on the big tech giants. The FTC is filing a lawsuit against the deal because it “would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its own Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud gaming offerings”. Boom, that’s sitting!
The FTC press release points out that Microsoft has acquired valuable gaming content in the past in order to keep it away from its rivals. The $7.5 billion takeover of ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks is explicitly mentioned, which is why titles like Starfield, Redfall and The Elder Scrolls VI are no longer coming to the PlayStation.
“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will keep content separate from its gaming rivals,” said Holly Vedova, director of the Bureau of Competition at the FTC. “Today we want to put an end to Microsoft taking control of leading independent game studios and using it to undermine competition in various dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”
The commission goes on to point out that Activision Blizzard is “one of a very small number of top video game developers in the world” that can “create and publish high quality video games for various devices”. In addition, the publisher owns numerous well-known brands such as Call of Duty, WarCraft, Overwatch and Diablo. The company can not only damage the competition with these blockbuster franchises, but also manipulate prices or even degrade Activision’s game quality and gaming experience on rival consoles.
Microsoft’s recently arranged 10-year deal with Nintendo, which is intended to bring Call of Duty to the Switch for at least that long, has apparently not changed much in the FTC’s view.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has already responded to the FTC’s announcement with an internal letter in which he assures employees that they continue to assume that the deal will eventually go through. The allegation that the deal is anti-competitive is not based on the facts and we are convinced that we will “win this challenge” in court.
For the acquisition of Activision Blizzard to go through, Microsoft needs the approval of numerous antitrust authorities around the world. While this has already been granted in Brazil and a few other countries, for example, the USA and Great Britain have recently been rather critical. To date, the EU is also a long way from approving the takeover.
Felix and Pirmin were at the Microsoft booth at gamescom and looked at three games at the same time. Lies of P, Pentiment and A Plague Tale: Requiem.
