Gamers take legal action to stop Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision

A collective of gamers have taken legal action against Microsoft in the hopes of stopping its takeover of Activision.

Back in January, Microsoft acquired Activision in a deal thought to be worth £50billion ($68billion USD).

However, since then America’s Federal Trade Commission has released a statement saying it hopes to block the takeover because the proposed deal would see Microsoft “gain control of top video game franchises, enabling it to harm competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading rivals’ access to its popular content.”

Earlier this week (December 20), a private consumer lawsuit was also filed against Microsoft. The ten gamers claim that the acquisition will unfairly reduce competition in the video games market (via Reuters). 

According to the federal antitrust suit, which was filed in California, the proposed deal would give Microsoft “far-outsized market power in the video game industry with the ability to foreclose rivals, limit output, reduce consumer choice, raise prices, and further inhibit competition.”

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. CREDIT: Activision Blizzard

“This case represents a necessary step in preserving competition in the video game industry and protecting the consumer benefits and innovations that competition brings,” said one of the legal firms representing the plaintiffs (via Eurogamer).

“Nothing has been as destructive to the free enterprise system as the mega-mergers of the last two to three decades. They destroy jobs; they raise prices; they cause quality to diminish and innovation to be stifled.”

A spokesperson from Microsoft has denied the claims, saying the takeover of Activision will “expand competition and create more opportunities for gamers and game developers.”

So far, 16 regulatory bodies globally have launched investigations into Microsoft’s proposed takeover, in order to assess its likely impact on competition, including the European Commission.

It’s also been reported (via VGC) that the European Commission has sent questionnaires to industry professionals, asking about the expected impact of Microsoft’s takeover of Activision. The questionnaire reportedly looks at the possibility of Microsoft charging more for non-Xbox versions of Activision games or offering Xbox specific updates. 

Activision Blizzard’s chief commercial officer has said that the company’s acquisition by Microsoft will only “benefit” gamers as well as the US gaming industry and claimed the company will “fight” any attempts to block the deal.

Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox. Credit: Microsoft

Last month, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer reiterated that the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is more focused on mobile rather than Call Of Duty, while a recent report has claimed that Microsoft has offered Sony the right to put Call Of Duty on the company’s PlayStation Plus subscription service.

Back in September, it was reported that Microsoft’s previous offer to Sony involved keeping Call Of Duty on PlayStation consoles for 10 years. However, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan slammed the offer as “inadequate on many levels” and said Microsoft’s proposed acquisition would “undermine” PlayStation.

Following that, Spencer shared that Microsoft had entered a “10-year commitment” to bringing Call Of Duty to Nintendo’s consoles, and said that Call Of Duty games would continue to launch simultaneously for Xbox and PC if the merger is approved.

Since then, Spencer has hit back at Sony’s opposition to the merger by claiming the company is “trying to protect its dominance on the console,” and accused Sony of trying to grow “by making Xbox smaller.”

In other news, Risk of Rain, the 2013 roguelike from developer Hopoo Games, is getting a remake.

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