In Europe, the takeover of the game studio Activision Blizzard is already under scrutiny. Now the US cartel office also wants to prevent the acquisition.
The US antitrust authority FTC (“Federal Trade Commission”) wants to prevent the mega takeover of the computer game manufacturer Activision Blizzard by the software company Microsoft. The agency filed a lawsuit against the planned $69 billion purchase on Thursday.
Microsoft is relaxed
The authority fears that the transaction could harm competition. Microsoft stated that the company is confident about the lawsuit. The group also welcomes the opportunity to present the case in court. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said he was optimistic the deal would go through.
Microsoft wants to make a big leap into the video game business with the takeover of the maker of games like “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush”. It would be by far the biggest deal in the industry. The deal would make Microsoft the world’s third-largest computer games company. The software company hopes that the purchase will give its Xbox gaming platform greater clout. Microsoft has often made major investments in game companies in recent years and, among other things, bought the “Minecraft” manufacturer Mojang Studios.
Microsoft takeover of Activision under criticism
The multi-billion dollar offer is also under scrutiny in Europe. According to insiders, Microsoft wants to make concessions to the EU competition authority in order to get their approval for the takeover. For example, Microsoft has offered the Japanese tech giant Sony, whose Playstation games console competes directly with Microsoft’s Xbox, a ten-year license agreement. The company also made a similar promise for the Nintendo Switch. Sony has now responded and the offers as called “sound and smoke”.. Gabe Newell, chairman of the gaming platform Steam, also shows up unfazed by Microsoft’s promises. The EU wants to decide on the case by April 11th.
With material from Reuters