The US competition authority, the FTC, filed a lawsuit on Thursday to block the US$69 billion (nearly CA$94 billion) takeover of Activision Blizzard, publisher of successful video games like call of dutyby Microsoft.
If the operation comes to an end, Microsoft, maker of the Xbox console and owner of several development studios, “would obtain control over leading franchises”, explains the agency in a press release. It would “harm competition in high-performance game consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading rivals’ access to its popular content,” it adds.
The FTC sees proof of this in Microsoft’s behavior after the acquisition of a smaller publisher, ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks.
Once the operation was finalized, Microsoft decided to reserve the exclusivity of games like Starfield after having nevertheless assured the European competition authorities that the company had no interest in not distributing the games on competing consoles, argues the agency.
Activision, which has 154 million monthly active users worldwide and produces some of the most iconic video games, “is one of the few video game developers in the world creating and publishing high-quality video games for multiple devices, including video game consoles, PCs, and mobile devices,” the FTC points out.
“That could change if the takeover deal is cleared,” the agency said.
“We continue to believe that this agreement will broaden competition and create more opportunities for gamers and game developers,” a Microsoft spokesperson responded in a message to AFP, noting that the group had offered concessions to the FTC.
“We have complete confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present our case in court,” he added.
The operation is also in the sights of Brussels, which opened an in-depth investigation into its effects in early November.
The European Commission, guardian of competition in the European Union (EU), then explained that it feared that Microsoft could “lock access to video games from Activision Blizzard” for consoles and PCs and that it would be tempted to put in place “strategies for the eviction of competing distributors”.
Such strategies could lead to “higher prices, lower quality and reduced innovation” as well as reduced competition in the PC operating system market, the Commission argued.