Activision Blizzard: FTC won’t make any gift to Microsoft

US antitrust review of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be conducted by the Federal Trade Commission.

FTC Chair Lina Khan has long advocated a stricter and tougher approach to transaction verification, especially those of the biggest tech companies, which she says could use their dominance in one sector of activity to impose themselves on other markets. US Commerce sued to block two major takeovers, namely Nvidia’s Arm and Lockheed Martin’s Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings.

With the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion, Microsoft will be the next target of the lawyer appointed by Joe Biden last March to shake up GAFAM. The investigation will focus mainly on the combination of the video game portfolio of the group led by the controversial Bobby Kotick and Microsoft’s consoles. Regulators will watch how Microsoft’s stake in Activision could harm competitors by restricting their access to the biggest games, including Sony, which is Activision Blizzard’s main commercial partner with a Call of Duty license.

Microsoft agrees to honor existing agreements between Activision Blizzard and Sony

To avoid legal trouble even before the FTC launched its investigation, US giant Microsoft was quick to make it clear that discussions with Sony experts took place shortly after the takeover announcement and that Call of Duty would remain cross-cutting. The competitive situation is far from healthy, as the famous FPS will also be available “for free”on the video game service. Discussions with US regulators are likely to be tense for months, and it is likely that an acquisition will be denied as an example.