The US FTC has officially announced that it will block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The first hammer fell! The FTC in the US today announced that it would block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and is filing a lawsuit to that effect.
The reason for the blocking is that Microsoft allegedly would have an enormous competitive advantage through the takeover.
An official statement from the FTC claims that the acquisition would not only give Microsoft the upper hand in the console market, but also in other areas such as subscription and cloud gaming.
According to the FTC, “The $69 billion deal, the largest Microsoft has ever made and the largest ever in the video game industry, will enable Microsoft to compete for its Xbox consoles and to quash its fast-growing subscription content and cloud gaming business.”
The FTC also cites the acquisition of Bethesda as an example, where Microsoft would keep games like Starfield and other brands out of the competition.
Holly Vedova, Director of the FTC’s Office of Competition, said, “Microsoft has already proven that it can and will withhold content from its gaming competitors. Today we want to stop Microsoft from taking control of a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in several dynamic and fast-growing game markets.”
Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith already has one on this opinion published in which he reacted to the news.
“We continue to believe this deal will increase competition and create more opportunities for gamers and game developers,” Smith said.
“We have worked from day one to allay competition concerns, including by making proposed concessions to the FTC earlier this week.”
“We were convinced that we had to give the peaceful trial a chance, but we have full confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present our case in court.”
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