The U.S. government has made moves to block Microsoft’s $69 billion bid (biggest deal in gaming history) to acquire Activision Blizzard, saying Microsoft has a record of withholding valuable gaming content from rivals.
Microsoft’s $69-billion bid to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard was part of a bigger plan to create a gaming behemoth by the tech giant to catch up to bigger rivals.
Microsoft, which owns the Xbox console and game network platform, said in January 2022 that it would buy Activision for $68.7-billion in the biggest gaming industry deal in history.
Without Activision Microsoft’s variety of games across mobile, consoles, and PCs, could struggle to attract users to its budding subscription service for accessing games as drawing subscribers has become a priority for big tech companies as traditional growth sources such as ad sales become less reliable.
Microsoft had said it wanted the deal to help it compete with gaming leaders Tencent and PlayStation owner Sony, but both companies criticized the deal and complained to the US Federal Trade Commission, which enforces antitrust law.
The regulator blocked the deal saying that Microsoft had a record of hoarding valuable gaming content from rivals.