Microsoft: FTC defends suspension of purchase of Activision – 06/22/2023 – Market

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC, its acronym in English) argued this Thursday (22) in federal court in favor of an injunction to temporarily block the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, which would prevent the closure of the agreement until the case is heard by an administrative judge.

“If this deal goes through, the combined company … will likely have the ability, an incentive, to undermine competition in a number of markets related to consoles, subscription services and cloud (for gaming),” said FTC attorney James Weingarten, in the government’s opening arguments at an evidentiary hearing that is expected to last five days.

The FTC argues it needs a judge to block the $69 billion merger between Microsoft and Activision until the agency’s internal court can decide whether the combination harms competition in the video game industry.

The FTC says the merger would give Microsoft’s Xbox exclusive access to Activision’s games, leaving Nintendo’s consoles and Sony’s PlayStation out.

“I think you’ll see that all the evidence shows that it only makes sense for Xbox to make these Activision games available to as many people and platforms as possible,” said Microsoft attorney Beth Wilkinson in her opening arguments, adding that, if an injunction is granted, it could result in a three-year administrative process that would end the agreement.

The first witness to testify was Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios at Microsoft. Also witnessing are Sarah Bond, corporate vice president of gaming ecosystem at Microsoft, and Pete Hines, group senior vice president and head of publishing at Microsoft subsidiary Bethesda Softworks.

The hearing is scheduled for next Thursday (29). Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella and Activision Chief Executive Bobby Kotick are among the expected witnesses.