FTC Not Backing Down In Fight Against Microsoft-Activision Deal, Despite UK's Approval

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is persisting in its efforts to halt Microsoft Corporation's MSFT acquisition of Activision Blizzard, despite the deal being finalized in October 2023 and gaining approval from British regulators.

According to Reuters, the FTC argued in an appeals court that a previous judge, District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, erred in deeming the $69 billion acquisition legal under competition law. The department contended that the lower-court judge set an excessively high standard, demanding the FTC to prove the deal's anticompetitive nature.

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Representing the FTC, lawyer Imad Abyad highlighted Microsoft's potential capability and motivation to restrict Activision's games from other gaming platforms. He pointed to past instances where Microsoft allegedly made games exclusive after acquiring Zenimax.

Even after facing setbacks in prior legal attempts to block the merger, the agency questioned the benefits to consumers amid concerns of monopolistic control.

"I fail to understand how giving somebody a monopoly of something would be pro-competitive,” Abyad said, according to CNN. "It may be a benefit to some class of consumers, but that is very different than saying it is pro-competitive."

However, Microsoft's legal representative, Rakesh Kilaru, labeled the FTC's case as "weak," arguing that it lacked evidence that Microsoft had a motive to withhold "Call of Duty" from rival gaming platforms.

"It is also clear that the standard can't be as low as the FTC is suggesting," he said. "It can't be kind of a mere scintilla of evidence," Kilaru said.

"It is not a violation of the antitrust laws to give consumers something new, that’s beneficial," Kilaru added, "unless they present some evidence of it, which they didn’t do."

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