Microsoft defends Activision Blizzard bid

Microsoft has responded to the US Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which publishes the Call of Duty video game franchise.

In its filing with the regulator, Microsoft said it was buying Activision to try to become more competitive in this growing global industry.
Microsoft, said in its filing, is buying Activision to meet the billions of gamers who choose to play on mobile devices instead of a console or PC, and to learn how to make games that appeal to and engage them. Xbox also wants to make Activision’s non-mobile games more widely available. One way is to continue to distribute Activision’s games wherever they currently exist and to develop
to other platforms like Nintendo. Another is to add new Activision consoles and new PC games to Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service on the day those new games are released, creating new
ways to access these games. Activision has never put its new games immediately on subscription.

His vision for the deal is simple: Xbox wants to grow its presence in mobile gaming, and three-quarters of Activision’s gamers and more than a third of its revenue come from mobile offerings. Xbox also thinks it’s good business to make Activision’s limited portfolio of popular games more accessible to consumers, bringing them to more platforms and making them more affordable. This includes making Call of Duty, one of Activision’s most popular games, more widely available. Microsoft made this commitment public the day the deal was announced.
Xbox has since agreed to supply the game to Nintendo (which currently does not have it) and offered it to Sony.
Microsfot argued that the acquisition of a single game by the third console maker cannot disrupt a highly competitive industry. This is particularly the case when the manufacturer has made it clear that it will not be holding the game. The fact that Xbox’s dominant competitor has so far refused to accept Xbox’s proposal does not justify blocking a game. transaction that will benefit consumers. giving
consumers high-quality content in more ways and at lower prices is what antitrust laws are meant to promote, not prevent.

Microsoft further stated that gaming is the largest and fastest growing entertainment industry in the world. Not too
A long time ago, people mainly played video games in arcades or bought cartridges or discs to play on game consoles at home. The industry is very different today. Gaming is now more popular than TV, books, music or movies. The industry generates hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue per year and is expected to grow significantly in the future.
The choices available to today’s gamers are growing. Players not only play on consoles, but also on PCs, mobile devices, and even directly on some televisions. Game developers are scrambling
an ever-growing variety of games, ranging from role-playing in complex fantasy worlds to sports simulations and simple puzzles. Hits come out of nowhere, giving consumers choices
beyond the iconic and treasured games they grew up playing. “Indeed, while franchises like Activision’s Call of Duty and Electronic Arts’ FIFA have been popular for a long time, so have
games like Minecraft, Splitgate, Player Unknown: Battlegrounds, Clash of Clans, and Among Us, which burst onto the scene and achieved great success despite being developed by smaller studios.
Players also pay for games in different ways. They can buy individual games – today mostly by downloading them, rather than buying cartridges or discs. They can subscribe to services that offer the ability to play a variety of games for a monthly fee. And they can turn to free games, which can be funded by in-game advertising and in-game purchases (eg.
example, additional levels or additional characters).
A few companies, mostly located overseas, wield outsized influence in this industry. Xbox is not one of them. The Xbox console is well behind that of Sony and Nintendo. While Xbox publishes console and PC games, it offers far fewer popular exclusive games than Sony and Nintendo. And Xbox has almost no presence in mobile gaming, which is the largest and fastest growing gaming segment,” the software giant said.