Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, has pledged to usher in a new era of trustbusting of America’s corporate giants, recently saying the agency plans to “enforce the antitrust laws to ensure maximal efficacy.”
Now Ms. Khan has staked that ambitious agenda on a case that may be highly challenging for the agency to win.
The F.T.C. on Thursday sued to block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of the video game publisher Activision, the biggest consumer tech deal in two decades. The action punctuated Ms. Khan’s statements about reining in corporate power and was the boldest of a recent string of lawsuits from the agency to prevent other, smaller deals in the name of competition.
Xbox Grows
Xbox chief and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says Sony’s opposition to the Activision Blizzard deal comes down to the PlayStation maker wanting “to protect its dominance” in consoles. “The way they grow is by making Xbox smaller,” said Spencer in a recent Second Request podcast (Via Eurogamer).
Sony has been opposed to Microsoft’s $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, and has focused on the future of Call of Duty in filings with regulators. “Sony is leading the dialogue around why the deal shouldn’t go through to protect its dominant position on console, so the thing they grab onto is Call of Duty,” says Spencer. “The largest console maker in the world raising an objection about the one franchise that we’ve said will continue to ship on the platform.”
More games coming
The Game Awards came and went with little to no major updates from Microsoft and Xbox. Fans raised their concerns, and Xbox marketing executive Aaron Greenberg reacted to the feedback by assuring people that Xbox has an "incredibly exciting" year to come in 2023. Why not tease or show these games during The Game Awards? "Timing is always key," Greenberg said, suggesting Microsoft is holding back announcements for a later, more strategic date. "But don't worry, you will not have to wait too long for what's next from us."
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