Microsoft to Challenge FTC’s Potential Block on $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Acquisition

Microsoft is headed for a battle with the Federal Trade Commission over whether the US will block the tech giant's planned takeover of video game company Activision

Blizzard.Microsoft on Thursday filed a formal response to the FTC's claims that the $68.7 billion deal is an illegal acquisition that should be stopped.After years of avoiding the

political backlash that has been directed at big tech peers such as Amazon and Google, the software giant now appears to be on a collision course with US regulators emboldened by

President Joe Biden's push to get tough on anti-competitive behavior.The FTC claims the merger could violate antitrust laws by suppressing competitors to Microsoft's Xbox game

console and its growing Xbox Game Pass subscription business.At the center of the dispute is Microsoft's rivalry with PlayStation-maker Sony to secure popular Activision Blizzard

franchises like the military shooter game Call of Duty.Microsoft's response to the FTC tries to downplay Xbox's role in the industry, describing itself as the “third-place

manufacturer of gaming consoles” behind Sony and Nintendo, and one of just many publishers of popular video games with “next to no presence in mobile gaming,” where it is

trying to make gains.Activision Blizzard filed its own rebuttal to the FTC complaint on Thursday criticizing what it described as the FTC's "unfounded assumption" that Microsoft

would want to withhold Call of Duty from platforms that compete with Xbox. Its CEO Bobby Kotick said he believes the companies will prevail.The dispute could be a difficult test

case for Biden-appointed FTC Chair Lina Khan, who has sought to strengthen enforcement of antitrust rules. The FTC voted 3-1 earlier in December to issue the complaint seeking to

block the deal, with Khan and the two other Democratic commissioners voting in favor and the lone Republican voting against.The deal is also under close scrutiny in the European

Union and the United Kingdom, where investigations are not due to be completed until next year.The FTC's complaint points to Microsoft's 2021 acquisition of well-known game

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 on Thursday objected to the FTC's characterization, saying it made clear to European regulators it would "approach exclusivity for

future game titles on a case-by-case basis, which is exactly what it has done."The FTC's suit describes top-selling franchises like Call of Duty as important because they develop a