“Activision Blizzard Deal Is Good for the Industry”- Xbox CEO Phil Spencer Shares Happiness on Winning the Case Over FTC

Microsoft has been planning on acquiring Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard for a while now. Its journey from talking about this acquisition to actually getting to finalize it has proven longer and more eventful than anyone had ever thought.

First, the European Board CMA decided to block the deal and investigate it on the basis of fair competition. While Microsoft and Xbox’s Phil Spencer were dealing with this, the FTC did something similar too. But recently, Microsoft has had some progress.

Microsoft is now even closer to acquiring Call of Duty creator Activation Blizzard

When Microsoft’s Phil Spencer started its revolutionary Game Pass service, there were numerous naysayers talking against it. The service was being called out for its business practices, which would reportedly lead to its complete syndication over gaming. As the service grew in size and user base, people kept criticizing it.

Microsoft introduced a plan where all of its first-party games would be released for Game Pass subscribers free of charge. This attracted an even larger crowd. This is what Microsoft called their own answer to PlayStation’s exclusive argument.

Read More: Xbox Is Bringing Back a Classic for Its Game Pass Subscribers

Eventually, they even started buying studios and massive publishers such as Zenimax, which owns Bethesda. Fans were naturally interested when Microsoft started talking with Activision about an acquisition.

This deal, however, caught the eye of many opponents. Sony was the biggest opposer, followed by CMA and the FTC. Both boards sued the company on grounds of unfair competition. Both of them wanted Microsoft to lose and not be able to purchase Activision. But the FTC seems to have failed in this mission. The court has ruled in favor of Microsoft, and Phil Spencer celebrated this by tweeting an exciting message to his fans.

The Tweet said, “We’re grateful to the court for swiftly deciding in our favor. The evidence showed the Activision Blizzard deal is good for the industry, and the FTC’s claims about console switching, multi-game subscription services, and cloud don’t reflect the realities of the gaming market.“

Microsoft aims to keep its promises to its competitors

Previously, to convince everyone that their plan was not to make Call of Duty Xbox exclusive, Microsoft promised to bring those games for 10 years on its competition’s hardware. This meant both PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch would get these games even after the deal went through.

After winning the case, Phil Spencer reaffirmed this claim. He says they plan to bring more games to more devices than ever before, which is exciting to hear. Fans are hopeful this deal will bring out the best deal for gamers in the future.

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