Microsoft is trying its best to get its deal to purchase Activision through. It has numerous hurdles in the way and the biggest one is the CMA investigation. It was decided that maybe this deal would not be as consumer friendly as Microsoft says it is. So, the CMA decided to take matters into its own hands and investigate this acquisition.

Their main argument, in this case, is that if Microsoft acquires Activision, then they would probably make Call of Duty (which is a very lucrative franchise for all parties involved) an Xbox and PC exclusive.

And this exclusivity might diminish competition for Microsoft in the gaming industry.

Mr. Vrad Smith responds to FTC’s move to investigate the Microsoft-Activision deal

Recently, aside from the CMA probe, USA’s Federal Trade Commission announced that they would be investigating this deal too.

Sony too entered this investigation and presented the argument that made a case for itself talking about the lack of exclusives on Microsoft’s Xbox consoles. And that Sony works hard to find the best exclusives for its console users and so it is unfair for Microsoft to buy itself a pre-established franchise that is immensely popular.

Recently in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s announcement Microsoft’s vice chair and president, Mr. Vrad Smith released a statement. He started by saying, “That would be a huge mistake. It would hurt competition, consumers, and thousands of game developers.”

It stated that Microsoft actually offered PlayStation a 10-year deal. In that deal, they proposed that they would release every new Call of Duty game on PlayStation on the same day as Xbox and PC.

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He maintained that Microsoft’s main motivation for the acquisition is to get their hands on the variable mobile franchises that Activision holds. Microsoft seems to be interested in adding those games to their popular Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

His statement also said, “To get subscribers to this service, Microsoft needs a full library of popular games and, as things stand, we simply don’t have enough. That’s where the acquisition comes in. Activision Blizzard comes with popular mobile, PC, and console games, including “Candy Crush,” “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty.”

PlayStation and Xbox have plenty of exclusives in the works

Aside from Call of Duty, both these brands have numerous big games slated to release in 2023 onwards. Sony PlayStation fans are waiting for Spider-Man 2, Wolverine, Final Fantasy VI, and Silent Hill 2, while Microsoft Xbox fans would get games like Fable, Forza Motorsport, Starfield, and Elder Scrolls 6 in the coming years.

Now what remains to be seen is how all this pans out. Microsoft is trying its best to ignore any complications in relation to this deal. We just have to see if the Federal Trade Commission sees the reason in Microsoft’s statement.

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