9/18/2023 0 Comments Twitter redacted .chSony, maker of PlayStation, has emerged as a major opponent to the deal. “Sony has big margins and is looking for an opportunity to move people away from consoles and provide more games on more devices to more people.” “For almost 20 years, Sony has been leader in the console market,” the Wilkinson Stekloff partner and former federal prosecutor said. In response, Wilkinson emphasized the competition that Microsoft would bring to the gaming industry, if the deal is greenlit, by challenging Sony’s dominance. After the acquisition, Microsoft made one of ZeniMax’s most popular titles, Starfield, exclusive to Xbox and Windows despite assuring to European competition regulators that it wouldn’t limit games on rival consoles. He pointed to the company’s purchase in 2020 of ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks and maker of The Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Starfield, for $7.5 billion. Microsoft could, he said, decide to make Activision content exclusive to Xbox or degrade the quality of its games on competing consoles. “This case is about whether the FTC should have its chance to evaluate the antitrust merits before the deal closes.”ĭuring his opening remarks, Weingarten argued that the merger will harm gamers. “This case is not about whether the deal should go forward,” said the FTC’s lead lawyer James Weingarten in court Thursday. 2, past a contractually obligated July 18 deadline to consummate the purchase. The FTC was forced to sue in federal court because Microsoft and Activision indicated they could close the deal at any time without further notice before its legal challenge in its internal court is resolved. For the agency, its ask for a preliminary injunction to pause the deal goes beyond this particular case. The FTC’s suit represents another aggressive step taken by competition regulators to rein in consolidation of the tech industry. If approved, the deal will marry Microsoft, which owns the Xbox console and a game streaming service, with Activision, maker of Call of Duty, Diablo and Candy Crush, as the company maps out an aggressive expansion of its gaming arm. The agency in December sued to block the merger, arguing that it will enable the tech giant to suppress competition in gaming. The argument set the stage for a mini trial in federal court in San Francisco between Microsoft and the FTC. Microsoft's Bid to Buy Activision Blizzard Temporarily Halted by Judge as Merger Deadline Nears
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