A group of gamers is coming together to support the FTC in its fight to oppose Microsoft Activision Blizzard acquisition deal. This comes after months of opposition to the acquisition by Sony because it would give their competitors an unfair advantage in the video gaming industry.
Ten gamers have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft for attempting to buy out Activision Blizzard. The company has already seen a string of difficulties and objections over its proposed deal. Although the Activision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft has taken several unexpected twists, the involvement of gamers in the case is incredibly surprising.
The claim made in the lawsuit, which was submitted to a federal court in the US, was that the Activision Blizzard acquisition will give Microsoft an unfair advantage to monopolize the video game market. The company will be able to suppress competition, manipulate prices, and make games perform miserably on their rivals’ platforms, such as the PlayStation.
A Microsoft representative responded to the lawsuit filed by gamers against the Activision Blizzard acquisition to Bloomberg law saying, “This deal will expand competition and create more opportunities for gamers and game developers as we seek to bring more games to more people. ”
The concern among gamers is that Microsoft would somehow alter the games so that they are almost unplayable on rival video game systems or completely restrict stuff from rivals.
Moreover, FTC also confirmed earlier this month that it was suing Microsoft in an attempt to prevent it from acquiring control of a major independent gaming company and exploiting it to impede competition.
Even though it’s unknown if this lawsuit would significantly affect the acquisition, the company already has other challenges, most notably with the exclusivity of certain games. We will have to wait till any official remarks are made to assess if the lawsuit will actually have a significant impact on the deal.
