The FTC Has Issued A Lawsuit To Block Microsoft Acquisition of Activision

It’s official, the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, has announced a lawsuit to block the Microsoft acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King. There has been a lot of back and forth in the last few days about whether or not the FTC would actually move to attempt to block the acquisition, but it has now officially happened.

 

The FTC’s strategy was further discussed in a Washington Post article, and it appears that the FTC has claimed that this acquisition will allow Microsoft to gain an unfair advantage over its competition in the games industry. The FTC specifically noted that when Microsoft acquired ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, that it used that new ownership to enforce Xbox exclusivity for the games developed and published under its ZeniMax arm.

According to the FTC’s director of bureau competition, Holly Vedova: “Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals. Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets."

Furthermore, the FTC claims that Activision-Blizzard-King is one of the only major publishers capable of publishing on multiple platforms, that this deal would stifle innovation in the industry by reducing competition, and that the company could even have sway over pricing changes.

The FTC is the first regulator that has actually decided to file a motion to block this acquisition, but the UK and Europe regulators are also scrutinizing it quite closely, although they have not yet stated their plans. However, the deal has already been approved by various countries, such a Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

This news will continue into the coming weeks, but Microsoft has responded to state that they are committed to addressing all competition concerns. However, the concerns certainly are ones that should not be ignored.
 

Justin van Huyssteen (@LC_Lupus)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed