![The Xbox Activision Deal Will Receive An Antitrust Review In The US](https://images.purexbox.com/643e797f9214c/the-xbox-activision-deal-will-receive-an-antitrust-review-in-the-us.900x.jpg)
So, it's already been a few weeks since Xbox announced its intentions to buy Activision Blizzard. Concerns over a 'monopoly' were brought up pretty much straight away, with many looking at how much Microsoft is growing its Xbox division.
Well, according to Bloomberg, a review of the deal will go ahead in the US, conducted by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC will look at whether it sees the deal as harming competition, according to the report.
The FTC will oversee the investigation into whether the takeover will harm competition, instead of the Justice Department, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the review. The two agencies share responsibility for antitrust reviews of mergers and often reach agreements about which one will investigate a deal.
We must stress that this is a fairly standard procedure and is typically carried out in the U.S when large company acquisitions go ahead. Still, this is one of the biggest deals ever in gaming, so it's likely to be heavily scrutinised.
Even if the two companies merge, both Sony and Tencent are still larger gaming companies than Microsoft by revenue, so, it'd seem a little dubious for Xbox to be punished in that way.
Two weeks on, how do you feel about this deal's chance of success? Let us know below.
[source bloomberg.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 37
Pretty sure Microsoft would have conducted all risk assessments using the best analysts and lawyers money can buy before announcing the acquisition to the public. So I'm sure it'll pass
Yep, it'll pass. I knew that Tencent was first but I didn't know that Sony was second.
Hm, if I remember correctly, Tencent bough part of Nintendo.
Wouldn't it be funny if they block this deal while big foreign company's keep buying up US developers/publishers? No way this gets blocked without the FTC looking bad
Hope this doesn't go through and same happens to Sony with Bungie. Then I can laugh at all you salty Xbox/Sony fans when you realise you can still play all those games like you did before but have to live with the indignation of having your mates ALSO able to play all those games too!!
Makes sense why call of duty is still coming to playstation as that might of tipped the balance for the courts
@Banjo- No, they bought a studio that helped develop a few big Switch third-party games.
@StonyKL Play what games like before? Starcraft is dead, World of Warcraft is dying, Activision just absorbed Vicarious Visions into Blizzard so you will see less Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk titles and who knows what will happen with their other studios like Toys for Bob, Activision will keep milking Call of Duty every year as all those talented developers go under-utilised instead of working on other games. Not to mention all the other terrible stuff like Bobby Kotick would still be in charge and the company culture won't change.
I'm definitely hoping the acquisition goes through.
@BrazillianCara OK, thanks. I heard something about Tencent and Nintendo but I don't know exactly what it was. So did Tencent just buy Wake Up Interactive (Valhalla Game Studios later turned into Soliel)?
@Alduin your gonna be waiting at least a year Bethesda deal took 6 month i beleive and they didnt have a ftc antitrust investigation....this will easily add 3 months if not 6 to that timeline which is why MS has said it wont be till 2023 before this deal is done.
Ofc it will. Sony is probably close to acquiring more and starting with others as Jim Ryan mentioned it already.
Xbox will go to Ubisoft and they will get them too, but I think that is the endgame for them. I really don't see the point. If you have 40 studios, you should be able to dominate any new giant tech easily.
@Banjo- From what I was able to gather, that's about it.
No reason it shouldn't.
@Chaudy not necessarily. Recently NVidia announced the acquisition of ARM for 40 billion dollars, but the FTC did not approve the deal and it will have to be undone.
It's not the same thing as the Microsoft - ActiBlizz deal, it's apples and oranges, but my point is that surely NVidia also had access to the best analysts and lawyers that money can buy and they were confident enough to announce that deal last year, but it did not go through, so you never know. And Biden's government seems more prone to frown upon big business consolidation than the previous one.
Considering MS' market share in gaming isn't that large, I believe this should pass.
@Banjo- Tencent received 1% of stake in Nintendo in exchange for Nintendo getting 10% of Tencent. I believe that was the deal.
I am sure it will pass - I would think that plenty of lawyers have poured over anti-trust laws to make sure it's legal prior to making an agreement to purchase.
@Microbius It's probably my childish side, but I've quite enjoyed watching the PS fanbase hurt itself in its confusion, especially after yesterday, when half of them didn't know if they were allowed to celebrate Sony buying Bungie or not.
On this topic, yes it should be reviewed, but it should still go through as well.
Yes, this deal will pass. Xbox is going to go through all the legal issues and they know it’s going to take time. The acquisition of Bethesda took its time. This one is going to be a while too but it will pass an antitrust review.
@IronMan30 So it was the opposite! Nintendo owning 10% of the biggest giant (Tencent) is perplexing.
@StonyKL
Chances of these not going through is next to zero. Neither Microsoft nor Sony would be the largest revenue maker in gaming after the deals close and with all the independent large studios and EA, Take Two, Square, Sega, Namco-Bandai, Ubisoft, Nordic Games, etc. large publishers all around, these deals have next to no chance to be rejected.
Nintendo is the biggest console platform out there right now, and they don't get Activision games. Thats proof enough this acquisition wont hurt the industry as a whole or create a monopoly. Only one that would suffer from it is Sony.
@StonyKL can we laugh at you when this goes through and we can play all their games for free in gamepass?
Great. A bunch of old, Dinos and Rinos to have a circle celebration about how to wrangle them harmful vidya games. Everyone brace yourselves for weird shooting statistics that have nothing to do with anything.
@NeoRatt But this committee is performative, as is with others. It won't be conducted honestly with pure intent. The question then becomes, do these institutions have the power to block the acquisition?
Of the three key statutes, pertaining to antitrust, only the clayton act MIGHT be used, "mergers and acquisitions when they may substantially reduce competition". But I'm sure ms is like, "nah. All the known* titles will be multiplat".
*the unknown titles, well those can be exclusives
@RevGaming Tell That To Embracer They Have More Studio's Then Both Sony And Microsoft Combined All Apple Google Or Tencent Has To Do Is Buy Them To Get Just What They Need To Get Going.
@Areus people put too much emphasis on quantity over quality. No dev from that publisher is better than any of xbox, Nintendo or sony's studios. It's good to catch up, but if Sony gets 30 studios, MS gets 40, Nintendo gets whatever they will get, it will be nearly impossible to compete.
Pretty sure the American government doesn't want to stop the only American company in gaming for the benefit of Japanese companies.
Its happening il put money on it.
@isturbo1984
They have the power to block mergers and acquisitions and they have the power to put conditions on mergers and acquisitions.
There is no way though that when you have a Chinese company like Tencent being the largest revenue maker in the industry that a US or EU review will stop a US company from becoming larger in that industry. Until these companies are at Tencent's level or high no merger is going to be stopped.
@NeoRatt You forget, US institutions absolutely love China and the CCP these days.
Nothing we didn't already know would happen. It might end up taking a bit longer, but no real reason it shouldn't go through. It's nowhere near a Monopoly, and as a few others have said, Microsoft would be the third biggest
@isturbo1984
Since when?
@NeoRatt If I had to guess, probably since Trump made it pretty public they are not great. Are you telling me that you haven't noticed the media, corporations and even government simping for China in the last decade?
@isturbo1984
Trump is no hero. Neither is Biden. There was a time when leaders led by example, now they lead like kids fighting in the playground.
Nobody is friends with China. But, the world has to co-exist with China. There is over a billion people in China, no corporation, media, or government is going to risk ticking China off and alienate a billion consumers.
@NeoRatt Well I answered your question. Which was "when?" That's when. I don't care who you think is a hero.
Also, You are wrong about a few things. Russia, North Korea, the United Nations and the Biden Administration are all friends with China. Maybe YOU need to "learn to co-exist" with the CCP that commits genocide against Muslims and their own people, but the world doesn't need to. And what are you talking about risking "alienating a billion consumers??" They live under communism rule. Do you know what that means, son? They don't have consumer freedom, rights and a voice like they do in the West. They don't even use the internet we do. You aren't talking to any Chinese online. They are all locked away in a bubble inside their country. Do you not get it?
To reiterate my original point, is that the government institutions overseeing this investigation is probably a kangaroo court. A kangaroo court you obviously are in favor of because ulterior motives align with your globalist ideals. Cool. But just don't lie about it and waste my time with this bad faith argument.
@isturbo1984
And the USA is any better? Enslaved people just because of their race (and still treats those people badly), invaded Iraq who supposedly had weapons of mass destruction, has the highest gun violence of any first or second world country, allows anybody to sue anybody for pretty much anything, had a president that acted on a reality TV show, and any time the USA is not on top of an industry they change the rules so that they end up on top.
The motto in the USA should be, "Its right when we say its right". I don't agree with communism either, but, USA is no model for how the rest of the world should be. There is a balance between total freedom and communism. None, of these three countries are balancing well.
And finally, globalism is not bad. No one person should be treated differently because of their gender, race, nationality, or country they live in.
@NeoRatt Yes. The US is better. Slavery ended more than 200 years ago here. It's still. Going. On... in China. Look, I don't know what your bizarre deal is and why you wanted to turn this conversation into this communist anti-USA, pro-China thing. But this has gotten off topic. I answered your question, a question you already knew the answer to. People HATE having conversations with bad faith actors like you. You waste everyone's time playing games. Go engage in your socialist activism on a different website. We're trying to talk about video games here.
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