Microsoft President Brad Smith said Tuesday the company has offered to agree to a legally binding consent decree with the US Federal Trade Commission to offer a decade of Call of Duty games to competitors like Sony and others. The development comes as Microsoft seeks approval for its $69 billion (about 5,66,800 crore) takeover bid for video game publisher Activision Blizzard.
Microsoftwho owns it Xbox Console and gaming network platform, said in January 2022 it would buy activation for US$68.7 billion (approximately Rs.5.64.474 billion) in the largest gaming industry deal in history.
The deal drew criticism Sonymanufacturer of PlayStation Console, citing Xbox maker Microsoft’s control over games like that call of Duty Series.
FTC and Activision Blizzard did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
To make the criticism clear, Microsoft this month made a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms. The company made the same offer to Sony.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration touched to block Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision, thwarting the tech giant’s plans to quickly expand its portfolio of popular games and catch up with larger competitors.
The deal is also under scrutiny outside of the United States. The European Union in November open A wide-ranging investigation has been launched, while the EU competition regulator said it would decide by March 23, 2023 whether to approve or block the deal.
The British antitrust authorities announced in September that they would launch a full investigation.
From the end of November this was expected from Microsoft offer a remedy People familiar with the matter said the EU antitrust authorities will face formal objections to the deal in the coming weeks. The deadline for the European Commission to submit a formal list of competition concerns, known as a statement of objections, is January.
Without Activision and its variety of games on mobile, console, and PC, Microsoft might struggle to attract users to its burgeoning game-access subscription service. Subscriber acquisition has become a priority for big tech companies as traditional sources of growth like ad sales become less reliable.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
