Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of video game developer Activision Blizzard is likely to be subject to antitrust review by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), according to a Bloomberg article published on Monday.
The deal, valued at $68.7 billion, was announced last month by Microsoft. Under the proposed deal, Microsoft would take over Activision’s 10,000 employees and take control of popular game franchises call of duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and Hearthstone.
If approved, the $68.7 billion deal will become Microsoft’s largest acquisition to date.
A thorough examination
Although both the FTC and the US Department of Justice have the authority to enforce antitrust laws, only the FTC will be involved in reviewing this merger, reports Bloomberg.
The latter will examine whether the merger of Microsoft – which manufactures Xbox consoles – with Activision would harm competition by limiting the access of its rivals to the main game titles.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision could come under scrutiny, with the antitrust divisions of the FTC and the Justice Department jointly announcing last month that they would review their merger strategy. In the announcement, the two departments said that US industries had become concentrated over the past few years and that the surge in merger requests over the past two years threatened to worsen the situation.
The coveted video game studios
The Microsoft-Activision deal comes amid a flurry of video game deals, with Sony announcing on Monday it would acquire Bungie for $3.6 billion. The studio is best known for creating the video game franchises Halo and destiny.
Even the New York Times joined in the fun this week, deciding to pick up the Wordle game for a “seven-figure price”.
Source: ZDNet.com