Microsoft: FTC points to recent layoffs at Activision Blizzard as a contradiction in judgment

108

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, de Activision.

In recent weeks, Microsoft has been involved in several controversies, especially related to the recent layoffs of 1,900 employees that affected Activision Blizzard and Xbox. Although it was thought that all the judicial problems had already been resolved, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States issued a document maintaining that those layoffs contradict Microsoft’s statements in the trial that involved the FTC last year.

Before the purchase of Activision Blizzard was made official in October 2023, Microsoft went through a lawsuit against the FTC, who argued that the purchase could generate a monopoly in favor of Microsoft. This trial was the first major obstacle that the company that owns Xbox went through, but finally in July 2023 it managed to overcome it. Microsoft later had to confront the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), who made a similar argument. It was once he was able to jump both hurdles that the purchase was finally approved.

Each hero plays a different role in the game.

Now, the FTC has reinstated the conflict, maintaining that the recent layoffs at Microsoft, which largely affect the recently acquired Activision Blizzard, contradict the statements the company made in that trial. Microsoft had assured in that judicial process that Activision Blizzard would operate as an independent company, and that the company would look for a structure that would allow that modality. However, according to the FTC, these dismissals, which Microsoft justified as an attempt to reduce the areas in which the positions overlap, would go against that argument of independence of the companies.

These new arguments were presented by the FTC in a brief sent to the appeals court, to try to pause the acquisition process that is being carried out again. For its part, Microsoft argued that Activision Blizzard was already considering several layoffs, and that since July when the FTC lost the trial, the purchase agreement changed significantly.