The
The FTC’s challenge could be a test case for President Joe Biden’s mandate to scrutinize big tech mergers. The commission voted 3-1 to issue the complaint after a closed-door meeting, with the three Democratic commissioners voting in favor and the sole Republican voting against.
The complaint points to Microsoft’s previous game acquisitions, especially of well-known developer Bethesda Softworks and its parent company ZeniMax, as an example of where Microsoft is making some upcoming game titles exclusive to Xbox despite assuring European regulators it had no intention to do so.
“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” said a prepared statement from
The
Microsoft’s president,
“While we believed in giving peace a chance, we have complete confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present our case in court,” Smith said.
The company had been ramping up its public defense of the deal in recent days as it awaited a decision. Smith said Microsoft has been committed to addressing competition concerns and brought proposed concessions to the
“We continue to believe that this deal will expand competition and create more opportunities for gamers and game developers,” Smith said.
Microsoft announced the merger deal in January but has faced months of resistance from Sony, which makes the competing PlayStation console and has raised concerns with antitrust watchdogs around the world about losing access to popular
Antitrust regulators under Biden “have staked out the view that for decades merger policy has been too weak and they’ve said, repeatedly, ‘We’re changing that,’” said
That has put pressure on the
“It’s evident that the company has been making a number of concessions,” he said. “Microsoft would likely raise them in court and say the
Microsoft announced its latest promise Wednesday, saying it would make Call of Duty available on Nintendo devices for 10 years should its acquisition go through. It has said it tried to offer the same commitment to Sony.
In an appeal to Biden administration priorities, Microsoft had also sought to characterize its deal as worker-friendly after announcing a “labor neutrality agreement” in June with the
The deal is also under close scrutiny in the
“The allegation that this deal is anti-competitive doesn’t align with the facts, and we believe we’ll win this challenge,” Kotick wrote.
Kotick said the deal will be good for players, employees, competition and the industry.
"We believe these arguments will win despite a regulatory environment focused on ideology and misconceptions about the tech industry,” he said.
Led by FTC Chair
Democratic
“Corporate monopolies have had free rein to hike prices and harm workers, but now the Biden admin is committed to promoting competition,” Warren said.
Both the
Federal regulators also on Thursday opened their campaign to block Facebook parent Meta’s acquisition of a virtual-reality company Thursday in a
In that case, the
Microsoft in recent years has largely escaped the more intense regulatory backlash its tech rivals such as
Microsoft's last big antitrust battle occurred more than two decades ago when a federal judge ordered its breakup following the company’s anticompetitive actions related to its dominant Windows software. That verdict was overturned on appeal, although the court imposed other, less drastic, penalties on the company.
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