Last Update: February 04, 2023, 17:42 IST
The EU and FTC suggest that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard could negatively affect competition in the gaming industry.
The European Union has issued a formal antitrust warning to Microsoft in connection with its $68.7 billion acquisition of gaming company Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft has formally received an antitrust warning from the European Union over its $68.7 billion bid to acquire gaming giant Activision Blizzard, the media reported.
According to a report in Politico citing sources, the objections were sent to the tech giant this week.
The report noted that “in the statement of objections, the EU authorities set out” the reasons for endangering fair competition on the video game market.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said they remain committed to the resolution and are looking forward to finding a way forward for the deal.
“We are listening carefully to the concerns of the European Commission and we are confident that we can address them,” a company spokeswoman said.
Earlier this month, Microsoft dropped an aggressive argument against the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it made in December last year after the agency attacked the tech giant for acquiring major video game developer Activision Blizzard. Lawsuit was filed.
According to Axios, Microsoft said it made a “mistake” when it claimed that “the structure of the FTC itself violates the United States Constitution”.
A Microsoft spokesperson said that “the FTC has an important mission to protect competition and consumers, and we quickly updated our response to omit language suggesting otherwise on the basis of the Constitution.”
In its lawsuit, the FTC says the deal, the largest ever in the video gaming industry, will enable Microsoft to stifle competitors with its Xbox gaming console and its fast-growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.
“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will stop content from its gaming rivals. Today we look forward to preventing Microsoft from gaining control of a major independent game studio and harming competition in many dynamic and rapidly growing gaming markets.” Let’s try to stop,” Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement.
Microsoft President Brad Smith said they are “committed to addressing competition concerns from day one, including the concessions they proposed to the FTC earlier this week.”
In September, the UK market watchdog announced a deeper investigation into Microsoft’s all-cash deal to acquire gaming giant Activision Blizzard if its concerns over antitrust practices were not met.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is set to issue its provisional findings this month.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)