The FTC is Looking Into Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been the subject of praise and criticism since it was announced a few weeks ago. Many think this will improve conditions at Activision Blizzard’s studios as the company battles a lawsuit from the state of California. Others fear that this will lead to the consolidation or monopolization of the video game industry. It seems the Federal Trade Commission fears the same as they will be looking into this acquisition.

Is Microsoft’s Purchase of Activision Blizzard in Trouble?

According to a report from Bloomberg, the FTC will investigate Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Their source said that the FTC will be investigating whether or not this acquisition will result in unfair competition in the gaming industry. FTC chair Lina Khan has been responsible for blocking Nvidia’s purchase of Arm Ltd. and Lockheed Martin’s purchase of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings.

Khan has been an advocate for investigating acquisitions by tech companies. Along with Jonathan Kramer from the Justice Department, Khan has promised stricter reviews of company mergers. This review in particular will be focused on whether or not Microsoft’s ownership of Activision is harmful to their competition as they could potentially prevent them from having access to those games.

An example of this would be Call of Duty potentially being exclusive to Xbox consoles instead of being multi-platform and accessible on PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Currently, the acquisition means Xbox will have exclusive ownership over some major titles such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft, and many more. Neither the FTC or Microsoft has commented on the report at the time of writing.