WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has moved to block the largest deal in the history of the video gaming industry by filing an administrative complaint seeking to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, which owns such blockbuster franchises as Call of Duty.
The FTC alleges the deal, which would have made Microsoft the third largest player in the video game publishing industry, would enable the “maker of Xbox would gain control of top video game franchises, enabling it to harm competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading rivals’ access to its popular content.”
In the administrative complaint issued on Dec. 8, the FTC pointed to Microsoft’s record of acquiring and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles, including its acquisition of ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks (a well-known game developer). Microsoft decided to make several of Bethesda's titles including Starfield and Redfall Microsoft exclusives despite assurances it had given to European antitrust authorities that it had no incentive to withhold games from rival consoles, the FTC alleged.
“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” said Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”
The FTC complaint also stressed that Microsoft’s Xbox Series S and Series X are one of only two types of high performance video game consoles and that Microsoft also offers a leading video game content subscription service called Xbox Game Pass, as well as a cutting-edge cloud-based video game streaming service.
The complaint also noted that Activision is one of only a very small number of top video game developers in the world that create and publish high-quality video games for multiple devices, including video game consoles, PCs, and mobile devices.
It produces some of the most iconic and popular video game titles, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, and has millions of monthly active users around the world, according to the FTC’s complaint. Activision currently has a strategy of offering its games on many devices regardless of producer.
In a press release announcing the suit, the FTC said that “with control over Activision’s blockbuster franchises, Microsoft would have both the means and motive to harm competition by manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision’s content, or withholding content from competitors entirely, resulting in harm to consumers.”
The Commission vote to issue the complaint was 3-1, with Commissioner Christine S. Wilson voting no.
