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US Federal Commission begins lawsuit against Microsoft to block Activision acquisition
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As part of Microsoft's effort to overcome all obstacles preventing the completion of the largest acquisition deal in the history of game development and technology companies in general, which is the acquisition of the giant publisher Activision Blizzard for US$ 68.7 billion.
A dispute between Microsoft and the US Trade Commission (FTC) has recently begun to escalate. The latter has filed a lawsuit to try to block Xbox from completing its acquisition of the Call of Duty publisher, according to a press release issued by the regulator. The lawsuit was filed today after days of calm in the disputes between Microsoft and Sony, as well as EU and UK regulators, over competition issues and the future of Call of Duty.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) argues that the acquisition will allow Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming console, through the content of its growing subscription services, as well as the cloud gaming services that Microsoft is focusing on in particular.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has voted through its commissioners to file a lawsuit against Microsoft. Now, the latter will face the biggest hurdle in the process of completing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and has become a real threat to it. On the other hand, regulators in the UK and the European Union are also scrutinizing the deal closely, despite Xbox's repeated attempts to satisfy regulators and competitors alike.
Holly Fedova, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Office of Competition, said in a statement:
Microsoft has already shown that it can and will block content from its gaming competitors.”
Today, we seek to prevent Microsoft from taking control of a major independent game studio and using it to harm competition in a dynamic and rapidly growing gaming market.
Last month, Microsoft offered Sony a full 10-year deal to ensure the survival of new and future Call of Duty games on its platforms, but Sony has yet to accept the offer. However, a similar deal was struck with Nintendo, which quickly agreed to it.
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