Microsoft
Court refuses to stop Activision-Blizzard acquisition
Microsoft office building in New York. photo
© Mark Lennihan/AP/dpa
With the acquisition of the video game giant Activison Blizzard, Microsoft wants to secure popular video games like “Call of Duty”. But there is criticism of the project.
The Xbox group Microsoft wants to secure popular video games such as “Call of Duty”, “Overwatch” and “Candy Crush” with the acquisition. The US competition regulator FTC had already filed a lawsuit in December to prevent the deal. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard announced the acquisition in January 2022. The FTC believes that this would give Microsoft too much market power in the video game business. However, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley concluded that the FTC could not provide sufficient evidence.
The takeover is also controversial outside of the United States. Britain’s antitrust watchdogs vetoed it in April. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard want to overturn this with a contradiction, but the outcome is still open. However, the EU Commission’s competition watchdog approved the transaction subject to conditions.
A major concern of some regulators was that Microsoft could only make Activision Blizzard games like “Call of Duty” available only on its own Xbox platform and keep them away from competitors like Sony with its Playstation. In the course of the proceedings, Microsoft gave assurances that the games will also be playable on consoles and web services from other providers for years to come.