The Long, Winding Road to a Microsoft-Activision Deal

The biggest-ever deal in video gaming has also been one of the hardest to pull off. Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. finally looks like it may happen, but only after a year and a half of jousting with global regulators concerned by the potential market power of the combined company. The fight isn’t quite over, with the US Federal Trade Commission likely to continue challenging the deal even after it has gone through.

The FTC sued Microsoft in December 2022, alleging that the acquisition would choke competition in the online gaming market, which mints billions of dollars per year. The agency argued that combining the Xbox console maker with one of the world’s largest game makers could give it an unfair advantage over rivals. Activision’s titles include tile-matching game Candy Crush and the massively popular Call of Duty shooting game. In order to stave off antitrust scrutiny, Microsoft promised to keep Call of Duty on rival Sony Corp.’s PlayStation console. A federal judge later ruled that the deal can go ahead. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority voiced concerns similar to those of the FTC before agreeing to support the deal with some concessions from the companies.