The US competition authority, the FTC, asked a San Francisco court on Monday (June 12th) to temporarily suspend Microsoft’s $ 68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, according to the summary consulted by the AFP.
The European Commission approved the transaction last month, which would make the computer giant the world’s third largest player in video games, while their British counterpart vetoed in the name of competition in the market for dematerialized games (cloud gaming). .
In a video game sector in full consolidation, Microsoft, which markets the Xbox console, announced in January 2022 the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, publisher of successes such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush, for 69 billion dollars. , a record amount in this sector. The merger, if completed, would give rise to the third player in the sector in terms of turnover, behind the Chinese Tencent and the Japanese Sony, maker of the PlayStation.
