The Federal Trade Commission has a new ally as it sues Microsoft to try to prevent its upcoming acquisition of Activision Blizzard: gamers. The community appears to be rallying together to prevent the Xbox giant from growing even more powerful.
All year long, Microsoft has already been deep in hot water with the FTC over the potential acquisition. The company first announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard back in January, which would give the Xbox company access to gaming juggernauts like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. The FTC got involved in the Activision Blizzard acquisition in February, when it began overseeing the deal. Just earlier this month, the FTC announced that it was suing to block the potential acquisition.
Thanks to an antitrust act, regular citizens are also able to sue companies to prevent monopolies from forming, and 10 everyday Americans have teamed up to take advantage of this. Referring to themselves as "video gamers" in the official complaint, the team says this acquisition will give Microsoft "an unrivaled position in the gaming industry." The group claims that after Microsoft's acquisitions of Rare in 2002 and Minecraft publisher Mojang in 2014, an Activision Blizzard acquisition would give it an unfair advantage against all competition.
Just last year, Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Bethesda. This gives it exclusive rights to huge moneymakers like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises. This acquisition alone boosted its already popular Game Pass subscription immensely, with games from each franchise hitting the service pretty quickly after the ink dried on the deal.
If this deal does go through, gamers can potentially look forward to a ton of Activision Blizzard franchises to pop up on Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass. However, as seen with other giant corporate acquisitions, such as Warner Bros. Discovery, there could also be just as many downsides. While it is doubtful projects will get canceled en masse or older titles wiped from existence, there's a lot of potential for damage.
Activision Blizzard already nuked the idea of a sequel to the recent Tony Hawk's Pro Skater remake. Under Microsoft's ownership, projects like that could get another shot. However, it's just as easy for the company to sell off franchises that can feel like dead weight. Regardless of what comes of this deal, Call of Duty might still be counted on to release until the end of time.
Source: Kotaku