A last-ditch attempt by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to stop Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard has failed. Thanks to a story on CNBC, we learned that the 9th Circuit U.S. Appeals Court said “Nope,” to the $68.7B deal.
This was one but many hurdles the maker of the XBOX had to deal with over the past year. In the U.S. and in the U.K., multiple government bodies were trying to put the kibosh on what is possibly Microsoft’s most game-changing acquisition in the company’s history.
The concerns are not unfounded. Activision Blizzard develops and publishes games on several platforms, including P.C., PlayStation, and possibly on the Nintendo Switch in the future. Being the sole owner of Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft could be a monopoly issue.
However, that won’t be the case, at least regarding CoD. In another CNBC article, it was revealed that Sony had struck a deal with Microsoft to ensure that future incarnations of Call of Duty will also come to the PlayStation.
The agreement is not indefinite, though. Microsoft agreed to only a 10-year deal to publish the popular first-person shooter on the competing console. No other games under Activision Blizzard’s umbrella were mentioned. Only time will tell if additional contracts will come to ensure Sony gets a piece of the action.
Microsoft could keep the XBOX/PC the exclusive home of various sequels in popular Activision Blizzard franchises like Overwatch, Diablo, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and Crash Bandicoot. Although, it wouldn’t make sense to keep these wildly popular IPs on one console if the game is to make money.
It will be interesting to see what Microsoft does with the titles in the future, but if the past is any indication, we may never see future releases. Remember when M.S. bought Rare and released only a couple of underwhelming games? Ugh.
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