Microsoft and Activision Blizzard had announced the controversial billion-dollar deal in January 2022. The computer company wants to pay almost $ 69 billion for the game developer and publisher, maker of the computer games Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush. It is the largest acquisition ever in the history of the American software giant.
Immediately after the announcement of the news, fears arose that the deal would disrupt the industry. With the Xbox, Microsoft has its own game console and could reserve new games from Activision and established names exclusively for its console and cloud services, or offer them under much worse conditions to its competitors, the Japanese Sony with its Playstation and Nintendo with its Switch.
The FTC had already taken legal action over competition concerns in December, now a motion has been filed in federal court to prevent the deal from closing. Microsoft executive Brad Smith has already said that his company “welcomes the opportunity to discuss the matter in court”.
The takeover is also controversial outside the US. The British competition watchdog vetoed the deal in April. The EU competition authorities, on the other hand, approved the transaction last month subject to conditions.
2023-06-13 00:01:00
#privacy #watchdog #takes #action #acquisition #Activision #Blizzard #Microsoft
