Microsoft President Brad Smith said Tuesday the company has offered to agree to a legally binding consent decree with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to offer Call of Duty games to rivals like Sony and others for a decade. The development comes as Microsoft seeks approval for its $69 billion (approx.
Microsoftwho owns it Xbox Console and gaming network platform, said in January 2022 it would buy activity for US$68.7 billion (approximately Rs. 5,64,474 crore) in the games industry’s biggest deal in history.
The deal has met with criticism Sonymanufacturer of PlayStation Citing Xbox maker Microsoft’s control over games like the console call of Duty Series.
FTC and Activision Blizzard did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
In a move toward outright criticism, this month Microsoft 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 and pose a stumbling block to the tech giant’s plans to rapidly 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 full investigation, while the EU competition watchdog said it would decide by March 23, 2023 whether to clear the deal or block it.
Britain’s antitrust authorities said in September they would launch a full investigation.
From the end of November was expected from Microsoft offer a remedy to EU antitrust authorities in the coming weeks to stave off formal objections to the deal, people familiar with the matter said. The deadline for the European Commission to prepare a formal list of competition concerns, known as a notice of objection, is January.
Without Activision and its variety of games for mobile, console, and PC, Microsoft might struggle to attract users to its burgeoning game-access subscription service. Acquiring subscribers has become a priority for big tech companies as traditional sources of growth like ad sales become less reliable.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
