Via the New York Post, sources are now saying that Microsoft’s plan is to rapidly close the merger by offering $95 per share – provided the European investigation is met with approval.
Antitrust bodies within both the UK and the EU have been quite positive in their findings for the merger, mostly on the back of Microsoft making very open promises to deliver the Call of Duty experience to competing platforms (ie, Sony and Nintendo devices).
Microsoft preparing to close Activision deal despite FTC suit: sources https://t.co/9W77bqJpXy pic.twitter.com/UuSyn0mNwo
— New York Post (@nypost) April 25, 2023
This in turn would have an ongoing effect on the Federal Trade Commission’s attempts to block the deal – their argument of course being the implied adverse impacts it will have on its rivals and the industry.
With overwhelming support from overseas markets, experts are saying that the FTC efforts will become an “uphill battle” – mainly due to the difficulty in arguing the antitrust factors when others clearly do not seem to agree with the possibility.
That isn’t to say that Microsoft is in the clear, many agreements have been offered to different bodies – such as the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – with promises to avoid exclusivity on their biggest titles post-merger for a period of at least 10 years.
The FTC is quick to point out that 10 of the top 15 console games sold between 2010-2019 were Call of Duty games, implying that if the series was to be made exclusive to Xbox consoles it would impact console sales in a dramatic way – with even the 10 year option to share the titles being a slim offering given the sheer influence that is involved. If the acquisition goes ahead as Microsoft intends, the FTC will need to pivot from attempting to block it to instead try and get the merger “unwound”.
The merger deadline for Microsoft looms, with July 18 not that far off – so if ever there was a time for a flurry of activity from the Xbox giant, it’s now.
Shoutouts to New York Post.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games
