The pre-trial date has been announced for Microsoft’s offer to buy Activison Blizzard, one of the largest gaming companies, one of the world’s leading IT companies. The judge has set January 3, 2023, for the first preliminary hearing in the Biden administration’s lawsuit against Microsoft.
ANTI-COMPETITIVE
The “Call of Duty” producer made a $69 billion bid to take over Activision Blizzard, and this venture aroused great reaction in the gaming world.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which enforces antitrust law (competition law), asked a judge to block the transaction earlier this month and said the merger would allow Microsoft’s Xbox to gain exclusive access to Activision games, which Nintendo and Sony’s consoles like PlayStation said negatively. claimed to be affected.
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Microsoft made the argument in a filing aimed at persuading a judge at the FTC to allow the deal to move forward.
In this filing, the firm offered to sign a legally binding endorsement decree with the FTC to provide “Call of Duty” games to its competitors, including Sony, for ten years, saying the deal would benefit both gamers and game companies.
RESPONSE FROM SONY
According to the statements, the FTC fears that Microsoft is restricting access to Activision titles such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft or Overwatch and could use it to harm rivals such as Sony.
As it is known, Sony stated that the new acquisition poses great dangers to the existence of Call of Duty Playstation. We can say that the FTC’s statements reflect Sony’s objections to the agreement. In addition, Holly Vedova, director of the FTC Bureau of Competition, cited Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Bethesda as proof of these concerns. Upcoming Bethesda games like Starfield and Redfall will not have PlayStation versions.
The lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is concerned that Microsoft is “harming the competition.” “We’re trying to prevent Microsoft from taking control of a leading independent game studio and using it to undermine competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing games markets,” said Holly Vedova, FTC Bureau of Competition Director, in a statement.
