Surprisingly, in January 2022World Witness Microsoft Buy Intent To Profit Activision BlizzardWhich is an ultimate monopoly and has sparked much debate around how an agreement of this nature could negatively affect the entertainment industry.
The journey was not easy and although the vast majority of nations approved the merger without complications, the plan began to unravel when UK Markets and Competition Authority (CMA (for its acronym in English) blocked such a transaction, arguing that Xbox would be a leading company in proprietary home services. streaming.
US regulatory agency, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), maintained a similar position and even established different approaches with his counterparts in European territory, but they were never able to harmonize, resulting in conflicts between the contributions of each of them.
At the end of June this year Dr FTC filed for an order to obtain a Temporary suspension That prevents the contract between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard from closing, and such a structure will remain in place indefinitely. The trial lasted five days and the moment remained, to a certain extent, surreal.
In its efforts to achieve its goals, the FTC has faced serious setbacks in several areas. The first was when Phil Spencer vowed to swear that Call of Duty would be multi-platform against the American Constitution; Second, because an ex-employee Google Stadia He said that the cloud gaming market should not be viewed independently, but rather as a global segment.
Likewise, it becomes clear that Call of Duty is a very important franchise but that does not play a decisive role To influence or benefit a particular company, in the case of Nintendo, whose hybrid console has sold the most on the market and to date, has not received any headlines from the aforementioned war story.
Judgment of the District Judge, Jacqueline Scott CorleyWas blunt and devastating, insisting that the moratorium promoted by the order FTC was rejected, as Activision Blizzard may have merged with Microsoft Hurts competition (especially Playstation), but not consumers, who would benefit.
As expected, FTC Decided to appeal, however, his record of defeats before the courts and lack of strong arguments suggest that it will only be a firecracker to defend himself. damage control Attached to the legal protocol but without any substantive effect.
It attracts attention CMAAfter learning of the ruling, Microsoft decided to stop the appeal promoted by it, with the aim of reaching a solution that benefits all parties, proving that the Redmond technology giant’s bargaining power was greatly reduced when it satisfied the regulators. Europe y America.
It is speculated that the multimillion-dollar purchase could be finalized as early as next week (before the deadline set for the 18th) or could last a little longer, closing a new chapter in video game history. Thanks for this trick, Microsoft will position itself as the third largest company Gaming behind it Tencent y sony.
