The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit to prevent Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard, the company that is responsible for creating the Call of Duty video game series. According to the report, if this acquisition of 69 billion dollars is successfully finalized, Microsoft would have an unfair edge over its rivals.
In January, Microsoft made the announcement that it had acquired the company. According to the FTC, it was the biggest purchase in the history of the video game business.
#BREAKING: FTC seeks to block Microsoft Corp.’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc.: https://t.co/ukewjn6MUX /1
— FTC (@FTC) December 8, 2022
According to the report, all four members of the panel agreed that the matter should be closed. One Republican member, Christine Wilson, voted against the motion, while three Democratic members, including the Chair Lina Khan, Rebecca Slaughter, and Alvaro Bedoya, voted in support of the motion. There were rumors that the commission had a meeting with Microsoft the day before to talk about the concessions.
In the event that this case is successful, it will be challenging for Microsoft to make progress into its still expanding metaverse. Even if Microsoft is beginning to explore the metaverse, it seems that the corporation has no plans to support “Web3” products like NFTs in the foreseeable future. In July, the business put a stop to players using NFTs on its gaming servers, which included the immensely popular Minecraft.
The Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, Holly Vedova, said that “Microsoft has previously shown that it can and would withhold material from its gaming competitors. Today, our goal is to prevent Microsoft from acquiring control of a prominent independent game company and utilizing that ownership to undermine competition in many dynamic and rapidly expanding gaming marketplaces.
In response to the FTC lawsuit, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick wrote: “The allegation that this deal is anti-competitive doesn’t align with the facts, and we believe we’ll win this challenge.”
Kotick said , “Our players want choice, and this gives them exactly that. We believe these arguments will win despite a regulatory environment focused on ideology and misconceptions about the tech industry.”
Compiled by Coinbold
