FTC Issues Complaint to Block Microsoft Deal to Buy Activision Blizzard

By Will Feuer

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to block Microsoft Corp.'s $75 billion purchase of video-game developer Activision Blizzard Inc.

In a complaint issued Thursday, the FTC alleged that Microsoft has a record of buying and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles. The FTC pointed to the company's 2020 deal to buy ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Microsoft later made several of Bethesda's titles exclusive to the company and withheld them from rivals like Sony Group Corp.'s Playstation.

"Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals," said Holly Vedova, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition. "Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets."

Write to Will Feuer at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-08-22 1429ET