{"id":1792964,"date":"2022-12-08T14:14:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T19:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/?post_type=station&p=1792964"},"modified":"2022-12-08T14:30:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T19:30:51","slug":"microsoft-sued-by-ftc-over-activision-blizzard-buyout","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/microsoft-sued-by-ftc-over-activision-blizzard-buyout\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft sued by FTC over Activision Blizzard buyout"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is suing Microsoft over its planned $68.7 billion acquisition<\/a> of Activision Blizzard, saying that the deal \u201cwould enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a news release, the FTC said that Microsoft has a record of \u201cacquiring and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles,\u201d pointing to the company\u2019s $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media<\/a>, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. The FTC noted Microsoft\u2019s plan to keep next year\u2019s Starfield<\/em> and Redfall<\/em> as Microsoft exclusives. Those games will be available on Xbox platforms and Windows PC.<\/p>\n

\u201cMicrosoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,\u201d said Holly Vedova, director of the FTC\u2019s Bureau of Competition, in a news release. \u201cToday we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FTC points to the Xbox Series S and Series X as \u201cone of only two types of high performance video game consoles\u201d on the market \u2014 the other, Sony\u2019s PlayStation 5, is not mentioned in its statement. The commission also points to Microsoft\u2019s Game Pass service as another cornerstone of the company\u2019s gaming business, for which Sony and other console competitors do not have an equivalent.<\/p>\n

The commission also notes that Activision Blizzard is \u201cone of only a very small number of top video game developers in the world that create and publish high-quality video games for multiple devices.\u201d The publisher controls a wide number of properties, including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith control over Activision\u2019s blockbuster franchises, Microsoft would have both the means and motive to harm competition by manipulating Activision\u2019s pricing, degrading Activision\u2019s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision\u2019s content, or withholding content from competitors entirely, resulting in harm to consumers,\u201d the FTC said.<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, has said that his company plans to keep multiplatform games like Call of Duty on all existing platforms, including PlayStation<\/a>, after Microsoft\u2019s acquisition of Activision Blizzard would conceivably close. In recent months, Spencer has pointed to the example of Minecraft<\/em>, which Microsoft acquired in 2014 for $2.5 billion, which remains on a variety of non-Xbox devices. Spencer and Microsoft have committed publicly to bringing Call of Duty specifically to PlayStation and Nintendo devices for at least another 10 years.<\/p>\n

But the FTC pointed to Microsoft\u2019s assurances to European antitrust authorities and regulators being in conflict with its decision to bring Bethesda Softworks\u2019 games exclusively to Xbox and PC \u2014 and to Game Pass \u2014 next year.<\/p>\n

Polygon has reached out to Microsoft for comment on the FTC\u2019s lawsuit and will update this story when the company responds.<\/p>\n

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