United States of America: Filed FTC public lawsuit against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard

On 8 December 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had issued a complaint and initiated an investigation into Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The FTC alleges that Microsoft has had a history of buying rival consoles and gaming content to suppress competition. Additionally, the FTC claimed that despite assurances to European antitrust regulators that games would not be denied to Microsoft's competitors, the company restricted rival consoles' access to games. Furthermore, the FTC alleged that Microsoft's acquisition could result in Activision's games only being offered on Microsoft-issued consoles, which could harm competition by manipulating Activision's pricing and availability. Finally, the FTC alleged that the acquisition could harm consumers by degrading the game's quality and player experience and withholding content from competitors.