The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Microsoft over the Activision/Blizzard deal to block the acquisition from happening, according to The Washington Post. The deal which is worth a reported $69 billion dollars was set to be one of the largest in the history of the video game industry.
According to The Washington Post, the FTC voted on Thursday on a party-line vote to issue the lawsuit in an administrative court. This lawsuit is the first regulatory threat that Microsoft has seen in quite some time – more than two decades.
Microsoft announced its intention to buy Activision/Blizzard back in January of this year. Ever since the announcement, there has been quite a bit of backlash from Nintendo and Sony. Sony has argued that games like Call of Duty are an incredibly strong franchises and said that other shooters could not compete. with games like Call Of Duty while Microsoft has argued that the deal doesn’t have significant market value. Microsoft’s president also confirmed that they offered to have Call of Duty on both Nintendo and Sony consoles.
Furthermore, the lawsuit warns that the deal could give Microsoft not only an unfair advantage in subscription and cloud gaming but also an upper hand in console gaming as well. The FTC argues that the deal could dampen innovation in these gaming markets.
