NEW YORK – The Federal Trade Commission wants to block Microsoft from acquiring the video game developer Activision Blizzard, the corporation that produces the blockbuster “Call of Duty” and the mobile game “Candy Crush”. According to the American antitrust, the 69 billion dollar agreement announced in January would make Microsoft dominant in the sector, from the Xbox console to various games, seriously jeopardizing the survival of other companies in the sector.
After Amazon, Alphabet and Apple, it is Microsoft that ends up under the observation lens. The multinational founded by Bill Gates has already acquired another competitor, ZeniMax, “parent” of Bethesda Softworks, another video game developer. The acquisition cost $7.5 billion. The company’s titles, including Starfield and Redfall, have become exclusive to Microsoft, despite the corporation having guaranteed the European Union’s antitrust that it would not remove them from the competitor’s console.
“Microsoft – he declared Holly Vedovaof the Trade Commission – has already shown that it is capable of taking content away from rivals once the acquisition is made”. “Today – he added – we try to stop Microsoft from taking control of a leading independent production with the aim of damaging the competition”.
The Xbox Series X and S are among the most capable consoles on the market. Furthermore, Microsoft has already achieved a market share that is cause for concern.
Activision is an American company founded in ’79, the first independent to develop and publish video games for consoles. One of the first products were the cartridges for the Atari 2600 console, which became one of the largest video game publishers. In 2007 Activision announced a merger with Blizzard Entertainment.