On December 8, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) of the United States formally filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in an attempt to block the purchase of Activision Blizzard King. Two weeks later, finally those of Redmond have responded to the organism, and in a very forceful way. The company had already given notice that, if necessary, it was ready to fight a legal battle, even against a government institution like the FTC.
The document presented by Microsoft focuses mainly on highlighting that the purchase of Activision does not harm competition within the video game industry. Much of the accusation filed by the FTC elaborated on the fact that, under its criteria, Microsoft could suppress competition in the console market by absorbing franchises as important as call of duty, world of warcraft Y Overwatch.
Microsoft insists that it has presented proposals to its competitors to guarantee the permanence of call of duty on other platforms and thus benefit all players. However, not all have accepted them; making clear allusion to the case of Sony. But beyond that offer, in the company they consider that a single game cannot alter the marketas the Japanese entity has hinted.
“The acquisition of a single game by third-place console manufacturers [Microsoft] You cannot change a highly competitive industry. Particularly when he himself has made it clear that he will not retain the game. The fact that, until now, Xbox’s dominant competitor [Sony] refused to accept Xbox’s proposal, does not justify blocking a transaction that will benefit consumers.“
Is the FTC just protecting the competition?
Those led by Satya Nadella add that the agency’s function is to prevent monopolies to encourage competition. However, by trying to block the Activision acquisition, are hindering a company’s ability to offer more competitive prices and better content. “It’s what antitrust laws are supposed to promote, not prevent,” they comment.
The FTC had also used the ZeniMax purchase as an example to show that Microsoft retained some Besthesda games to make them exclusive; despite assuring European regulators that it would not. However, those from Redmond flatly denied that accusation:
“Any suggestion that Microsoft’s statements to the European Commission about ZeniMax were misleading is incorrect. Microsoft explicitly said that it would honor Sony’s existing exclusivity rights and address exclusivity for future game titles on a case-by-case basis, which is exactly what what have you done.”
Microsoft even adds that the European Commission agrees with this position. Certainly, the regulator of the old continent had already mentioned that Microsoft has not violated any agreement in relation to the purchase of ZeniMax.
The FTC ignores the reality of the video game industry, according to Microsoft
The Seattle company, on the other hand, hinted that the FTC has a lack of knowledge about how the video game industry works today. “The FTC ignores the great benefits of the purchase in favor of a distorted attempt to ignore the facts and rewrite antitrust law and set a precedent to protect Xbox’s competitors from hypothetical harm that has no basis in market reality.” .
On the FTC’s idea that Microsoft limit the availability of games to services like Xbox Game Pass or Xbox Cloud Gaming, the company says that its goal is to offer various options to gamers.
Microsoft concludes its statement by mentioning that the FTC is protecting “the world’s largest game companies from increased competition from Xbox”, which represents a twist to the antitrust laws. “Blinded by ideological skepticism of high-value technology deals and by complaints from competitors, the FTC has not only lost sight of the reality of the intensely competitive video game industry, but also the guiding principles of the antitrust laws of our nation.”
Of course, this is the first of several interventions that Microsoft will have to try to get the green light from the FTC to buy Activision. While all indications are that the acquisition will come to fruition despite so many hurdles, Microsoft may well have to make significant concessions to satisfy everyone involved.