Video games. Washington wants to block Microsoft’s takeover of Activision

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday (December 8) filed a complaint against Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard, publisher of successful Call of Duty-like video games, in one of its biggest battles yet.technology“.

While the operation is already in the spotlight of European and British authorities, this legal action is an additional obstacle to the deal announced in January. If the transaction were to be completed, Microsoft, the maker of the Xbox console, the distributor of the Xbox Game Pass online service and the owner of several development studios,will gain control over the best franchises“The agency clarifies in the press release. that “will harm competitionfor both consoles and video game subscription services, he says.

The Bethesda case

The FTC wants evidence of that in Microsoft’s behavior after its acquisition of a smaller publisher, ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. After the deal ended, Microsoft reserved exclusivity for games like Starfield after assuring European competition authorities, however, that the company had no interest in not distributing the games to rival consoles at a cost to the agency.

Or Activision, which produces the most popular video games such as World of Warcraft: Where? Candy Crush“It is one of the few video game developers in the world that creates and publishes high-quality video games for multiple devices, including video game consoles, PCs, and mobile devices.,” the FTC emphasizes. “This may change if the purchase transaction is cancelled“says the agency.

Since Joe Biden came to power in January 2021, his government has stepped up its fight against anti-competitive practices and opposed several business mergers. So far, his record has been mixed.

Number three in the field

In particular, he acquired a merger between the insurance brokers Aon and Willis or the publishing house Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House. He was unsuccessful in other cases, however, including Booz Allen Hamilton’s takeover of EverWatch Corp in defense and UnitedHealth’s acquisition of Change Healthcare in health insurance.

The FTC is headed by Lina Khan from June 2021, who is known for her hostility to the monopolies of big tech platforms. Under his leadership, the agency, in particular, filed a new complaint against Facebook for abuse of its dominant position in the social network market. “We continue to believe that this agreement will enhance competition and create more opportunities for gamers and game developers.A Microsoft spokesperson responded in a message to AFP, saying the group had offered concessions to the FTC.

Ten years of availability

The head of Microsoft’s video game division specifically assured that on Wednesday on duty will be available on Nintendo consoles ten years after the Activision takeover ends. “We have full confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present our case in court.“, said the press spokesperson.

Activision boss Bobby Kotick was also confident, saying in a Twitter post that the competition authorities’ allegations:does not (correspond) to reality“. The operation should advance the American giant “technologyit ranks third in the world in terms of turnover, behind China’s Tencent and Japan’s Sony, which produces the PlayStation.

For Dan Eaves of Wedbush, Microsoft is likely toto fight“To carry out this operation”.which remains very importantin his strategy. Microsoft must also reluctantly face off across the Atlantic, with the European Commission and UK competition police launching in-depth investigations into the fallout from the move in November and September respectively. The European Commission specifically explained that it fears the move could lead to “higher prices, lower quality and reduced innovation” as well as less competition in the PC operating system market.