2023-06-22 16:09:03
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sought a preliminary injunction from a federal court to temporarily block Microsoft’s acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard, preventing the deal from closing before the government’s complaint becomes clear. be heard.
“If this transaction is successful, the combined business (…) will likely have the ability, an incentive, to harm competition in various markets related to consoles, subscription services and cloud computing ( for gaming),” FTC attorney James Weingarten said in the government’s opening arguments during the first of a five-day hearing to review the evidence.
The FTC says it needs a judge to stop Microsoft Corp and Activision Blizzard Inc from completing their $69 billion merger until the agency’s in-house court rules on whether the combination harms competition in the video game industry.
Microsoft and Activision plan to call Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios at Microsoft, and Sarah Bond, vice president of games ecosystem at Microsoft, on Thursday. The FTC plans to call Pete Hines, senior group vice president and chief publishing officer at Microsoft subsidiary Bethesda Softworks.
The resolution of the US lawsuit is one of many antitrust battles Microsoft and Activision have fought around the world to finalize the deal. Microsoft’s bid to acquire video game maker “Call of Duty” was approved by the European Union in May, but UK competition authorities blocked the takeover in April.
The FTC argued that the transaction, which would be the largest for Microsoft and the largest in the history of the video game industry, would give Microsoft “the ability and increased incentive to withhold or degrade content from Activisions in a way that would significantly lessen competition.”
Additionally, the FTC believes the combination would give Microsoft’s Xbox video game console exclusive access to Activision’s games, leaving Nintendo’s consoles and Sony Group Corp’s PlayStation. in the cold.
Microsoft said the deal would benefit gamers and game companies, and offered to sign a legally binding agreement with the FTC to supply “Call of Duty” games to rivals for a decade.
The hearing is scheduled to continue until June 29. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick are among the scheduled witnesses. (Reporting by David Shepardson and Chris Sanders; Writing by Leslie Adler and Mark Porter)
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