Microsoft's planned purchase of video game developer Activision Blizzard has endured antitrust investigations in multiple countries, and the transaction still faces opposition from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Microsoft announced the cash purchase of Activision Blizzard, a Santa Monica, California, company valued at approximately $69 billion in January. The developer of such games as “Warcraft,” “Diablo,” “Overwatch,” “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush," Activision Blizzard also has nearly 400 million monthly active online players in 190 countries, according to a release by Microsoft.
"The tech giant's $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard gets China's antitrust approval," Microsoft wrote on its Xbox News Twitter account. "The deal has now been approved in 38 countries."
The FTC said in December that it planned to block the purchase on the grounds that the merger would allow Microsoft to suppress competition to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content, according to a release by the commission. As an example, FTC said that after Microsoft acquired Bethesda Softworks with its purchase of ZeniMax, Microsoft then made several of Bethesda's games Xbox exclusives.
Activision has a policy of offering its games to many console makers, and the FTC fears that Microsoft would be able to harm competition by manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision’s content, or withholding it entirely from competitors, the FTC release said.
Microsoft also was hit with an antitrust lawsuit in California Northern District Federal Court, alleging the purchase will reduce competition in the video game industry and cause higher prices, labor constraints and other issues. The lawsuit was filed by the Alioto Law Firm and the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, both based in San Francisco, on behalf of 10 individual “video gamers," according to Law Journal newsletters.
As per a European Union report on May 15, the European Commission has approved Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, on the condition that Microsoft address the commission's concerns about competition in gaming, as the deal would represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming. The commission's investigation indicated Microsoft would not be able to harm rival consoles and multi-game subscription services, the EU website said.
“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said in the company's release. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”
