There is plenty of talks right now regarding Microsoft’s latest acquisition attempt. After the company made a massive deal to secure ZeniMax Media, Microsoft moved its attention to Activision Blizzard. That made quite the headlines, and now it looks like Microsoft’s battling to ensure that they can secure the purchase. But today, a new lawsuit has emerged to throw another obstacle into the potential acquisition. It looks as if the FTC is trying to pump the brakes on this deal by suing Microsoft.
The FTC has announced that they will be suing Microsoft over the massive Activision Blizzard deal. According to a report from The Washington Post, the lawsuit comes as the FTC views the purchase would cause the tech giant to suppress competition within the video game industry. This also comes after Microsoft showed willingness to ensure that the most significant IP from this deal, Call of Duty, will remain on multiple platforms for at least ten years. Despite this, the FTC is pointing out Microsoft’s previous ZeniMax Media to show how Microsoft has removed games from releasing on opposing platforms.
For instance, we know that Bethesda’s upcoming releases, Starfield and Redfall, became Microsoft exclusives. That is what FTC fears Microsoft would do if this deal goes through. However, at the same time, Microsoft recently announced that they had sent ten-year contract deals to competitor platforms. With this deal, the Call of Duty franchise would remain on competitor platforms for at least a decade. In fact, both Valve’s Steam and Nintendo agreed to this deal if the Activision Blizzard deal went through.
It was also just earlier today that Xbox unveiled that the ten-year deal was not something that would likely end right after the contract expired. Instead, there was interest in working with these platforms and keeping the games going into the competitor consoles. But again, that is something Microsoft might have to fight on in the courts, with FTC throwing a potential wrench into the acquisition purchase of the company. So, for now, it’s a waiting game to see if Microsoft can go through with its intended purchase.
Again, it looks like Microsoft is doing as much as it can to showcase that Call of Duty will remain on Sony’s PlayStation console for an entire decade of game releases. Likewise, we might see the franchise stick around well after the decade wraps up and the contract agreement ends. But that might not be the case if the company cannot proceed with the multi-billion dollar purchase. Do you think Microsoft would continue to support Call of Duty games across competitor platforms?
