ISTANBUL – A US judge ruled yesterday in favour of Microsoft’s US$69 billion (RM321 billion) acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard, reported Anadolu.
“Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny,” federal judge Jacqueline Scott Corley from the state of California said in her ruling.
“Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to, for the first time, bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services,” she added.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in June applied for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction seeking to block the acquisition, arguing that the deal would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors against its Xbox gaming consoles, its subscription content and cloud-gaming business.
“The court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition,” said Corley.
If closed, the agreement would be the biggest acquisition in Microsoft’s history and for the video game industry.
Meanwhile in London, PA Media/dpa reported the UK’s competitions watchdog has said it is willing to work with Microsoft over its planned acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard, which could halt an impending legal battle.
It comes shortly after a US court handed Microsoft a victory by saying it would not stop the impending US$69 billion takeover.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) previously blocked the high-profile acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush, and Guitar Hero, among others.
The regulator insisted that such a deal would give Microsoft an unfair advantage in the cloud computer game market.
But it was met with a fierce response from Microsoft, with its president calling the decision his company’s “darkest day” in the UK, and saying it suggested the European Union was more attractive for scaling businesses than Britain.
Activision Blizzard said it would work “aggressively” with Microsoft to reverse the decision through an appeal, with a tribunal hearing scheduled for later this month.
But yesterday, the CMA said it was willing to consider ways to reshape the tech giant’s takeover, following the US court ruling.
A CMA spokesman said: “We stand ready to consider any proposals from Microsoft to restructure the transaction in a way that would address the concerns set out in our final report.
“In order to be able to prioritise work on these proposals, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of litigation in the UK would be in the public interest and all parties have made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to this effect.”
Microsoft said in a statement: “While we ultimately disagree with the CMA’s concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA.”
A five-day court hearing in San Francisco ended late last month. It showcased testimony by Microsoft and Activision Blizzard who pledged to keep Call of Duty available to people who played it on consoles, namely Sony’s PlayStation, that compete with Microsoft’s Xbox. – Bernama, July 12, 2023
