The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United Kingdom has reportedly filed a lawsuit against one of the largest tech giants, Microsoft.
The lawsuit has been filed to stop the tech giant from acquiring Activision Blizzard, one of the largest video game publishers.
FTC Files an Antitrust Case
It has been reported that an antitrust case has been filed by the FTC of the United Kingdom against Microsoft.
The case has been filed by the regulator to stop and challenge the tech giant from proceeding with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The regulatory authority has adopted a view that the company will be breaching United States law if it proceeds with the acquisition of Blizzard.
As per the regulator, it would not let even the likes of Microsoft, go ahead and violate any law. The regulator itself has decided to stop Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft is used to Competitive Pressure
Since the latest report has come out, many market analysts and expert traders have started voicing their concerns over FTC’s actions.
They are surprised to see that the regulator has somewhat played the role of being a rival to Microsoft in the acquisition matter.
Still, this is something Microsoft has the experience to handle in the most professional manner. The tech giant has been dealing with such cases for decades and this will be another one of those cases.
It was back in 1998 when Microsoft found itself facing an antitrust case that was filed against it by the US Justice Department.
Although Microsoft was able to handle the case quite well, it did make some changes to the way it operated its business.
The company reportedly made changes to some of the practices they had in place for its operating systems running on Windows.
Despite the case, the company has continued growing larger and has its influence throughout the world.
What Triggered FTC?
As per claims, the Federal Trade Commission has taken up the matter and has filed a case against Microsoft on its own.
However, it is being rumored that Sony, a major rival of Microsoft, is behind all of this. Microsoft and Sony are each other’s major rivals in the gaming industry for video games as well as consoles.
If Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard, it will have multiple gaming franchises under its control. These games include Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, and many more.
At the moment, the majority of these games are available for all platforms.
With Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard, the tech giant can make these games exclusive to Microsoft-based operating systems and gaming consoles.
This is exactly what the FTC fears and it recently launched a probe to establish if Microsoft would eventually kill competition in the country with this move.
With more gaming brands and franchises under its name, Microsoft may make the move and make them exclusive to Microsoft. This would mean that Microsoft has less competition in the United Kingdom.
It would be the same throughout the world but the FTC is concerned about its own jurisdiction and entertainment market.
FTC is Against the Acquisition
The FTC filing an antitrust case against Microsoft confirms that it is not happy with the tech giant’s approach.
Although both parties are interested in going proceed with the deal that would see Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, the FTC is opposing that.
Microsoft has provided Clarification
From Microsoft’s end, the executives have promised on several occasions that they have no intentions of bringing major gaming franchises into exclusivity.
The company specifically talked about “Call of Duty”, confirming that they would never want to make the game exclusive. They have a very high following and player base from all over the world with Call of Duty.
They would never want to do it and take away the entertainment from their players. Still, the regulator is not convinced and wants to go against their deal.
In the recent trading session, Microsoft’s shares have plunged 0.80% while Activision Blizzard’s shares have surged 0.54%.
