US authority plans to prevent the purchase of Microsoft

After Microsoft Acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzardestimated at about 70 billion US dollars (365 billion Brazilian reais) Federal Trade Commission (FTC, in English), the agency responsible for protecting consumers and competition in the United States, appealed to the Justice Department on Wednesday 8 to suspend the acquisition.

Agency argued that buy software “It will allow it to suppress competitors in the Xbox game consoles and the growing subscription content and cloud gaming business.”

#broke down: The FTC seeks to block a Microsoft Corp. takeover. On Activision Blizzard, Inc: https://t.co/ukewjn6MUX / 1

– FTC (@FTC) December 8, 2022

The agency’s arguments against Microsoft

The Federal Trade Commission confirmed that Microsoft made games such as starfield And the Redfall It was exclusive to the platform after acquiring a smaller game developer, ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks, when it “promised” not to bother distributing it to competing consoles.

“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming competitors,” Holly Vidova, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Competition, said in a statement. “Today, we look to stop him taking control of a major independent game studio and using it to undermine competition in multiple game markets.”

In November, the European Commission announced that it would open an “in-depth” investigation into the proposed acquisition by Microsoft and the potential effects of this acquisition on competition in the electronic games sector.