The FTC has decided to sue to block the merger of ABK and Xbox by Microsoft.
Activision has put out their own statements including an internal email
Further details from a follow up by the Washington Post below:
The Post states that:
The commission voted on Thursday on a party-line vote to issue the lawsuit in administrative court, with the three Democrats in favor of the complaint and one Republican against it.
Washington post
This is the first time in decades that Xbox has faced such regulatory pressure from the US government.
“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” said Holly Vedova, the FTC’s Bureau of Competition director, said in a news release. “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.”
Washington post
The saga goes on, forever.
Xbox and ABK have responded.
And finally from Darth Vader himself:
The FTC has posted on their site reasoning. It basically boils down to games being held off of other platforms, so it appears that they have agreed with Sony’s claims that losing Call of Duty would destroy their business. This is not the start of a lawsuit but is the administrative process of starting one up. We will have to wait and see if Xbox can offer concessions to appease the FTC or if this does go to the courts.
Hell of deal to make before final talks with the FTC tomorrow.
This has got to be Sony’s reaction right now -
I didnt believe phil would actually tweet something like that during night
MS waited until they could play all their cards all at once. I wouldn’t be surprised if they still have one more trick left
I just can’t see the FTC blocking it. Who wants to make labor unions mad,take games away from 200+k gamers and make your bosses life harder.
I think that checkmate… No other reason to stop this deal now.
So what reason is there to block this now other than “big tech = bad!”
Im far too sleepy to provide comprehensive thoughts on this, but good lord, what a savvy play.
Microsoft: