FTC files suit to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision purchase

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the proposed $69 billion merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. By a 3–1 vote, the regulatory commissioners approved the filing of a suit that argues such a merger "would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business," according to a press release.

The FTC's lawsuit specifically calls out Microsoft's previous acquisition of Bethesda Softworks parent company Zenimax as part of a "record of acquiring and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles." The decision to make Bethesda's upcoming Starfield and Redfall exclusive to Microsoft platforms came "despite assurances [Microsoft] had given to European antitrust authorities that it had no incentive to withhold games from rival consoles," according to the FTC.

Microsoft has taken pains to suggest that the Activision Blizzard acquisition would be different on this score, promising to ship Activision's best-selling Call of Duty franchise on competing PlayStation platforms "as long as there's a PlayStation to ship to." And just yesterday Microsoft announced it had reached deals with Nintendo and Valve to guarantee Call of Duty on those companies' platforms for at least 10 years.