US blocks sale of company that developed World of Warcraft and Diablo games

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit to ban tech giant Microsoft from acquiring video game company Activision Blizzard. The antitrust agency recognized that the deal, valued at $ 68.7 billion, poses a threat to competition in the technology market. The FTC said that the sale of Activision to Blizzard would harm consumers, as Microsoft could use popular Activision games (such as Call of Duty) to lure gamers away from competitors. The agency’s commissioners voted 3 to 1 to approve the lawsuit.

«We seek to prevent Microsoft from gaining control of a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in numerous dynamic gaming markets,» said Holly Vedova, head of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition.

Microsoft President Brad Smith also announced that the corporation is ready to defend its position in court. «Although we believed that a settlement agreement would still have a chance, we are now fully confident in our case and welcome the opportunity to express our views in court,» the top executive said. The trial is scheduled to start in August 2023.

Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, the publisher of the World of Warcraft and Diablo video games, earlier this year. It was assumed that Activision Blizzard shareholders would receive $ 95 for each security, which is 45% more than its stock price. The commercial deal had every chance of becoming a record in the video game industry.

Legal experts studying the case said that it might be difficult for the FTC to win the case because Microsoft and Activision do not actually operate in the same industry, which reduces the agency’s potential concerns about the tech giant’s gaming monopoly. However, lawyers suggest that the FTC is trying to put pressure on European regulators to help the US government make it more difficult for Microsoft to complete the deal.