Deal of the decade

Microsoft's Activision plan satisfies US courts and (most) third parties thanks to a series of ten-year concessions

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As the industry rumour mill turns, we're used to seeing major players doing all they can to avoid getting caught in its wheels, with Sony and Microsoft as deft as any at keeping their secrets. We have to confess to a certain sense of schadenfreude, then, when Microsoft's court date against the US Federal Trade Commission, in which the latter requested a preliminary injunction blocking Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, briefly forced the two platform holders to expose themselves. There's nothing like a court case to get people telling tales, often by accident. And while the pertinent point here is that Microsoft ultimately won, clearing the way for its plodding buyout saga to reach an affirmative end, some of the titbits of info we pocketed along the way can help in considering the likely fallout.

There's no doubt the FTC emerged quite bruised from its encounter. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley concluded that the regulator hadn't shown a likelihood that it could prevail with a claim that the buyout would lessen competition. On the contrary, she decided, "the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call Of Duty and other Activision content." The main reason is a series of ten-year deals offered by Microsoft to competitors including Sony lensuring that Call Of Duty will remain on PlayStation) and companies with cloud streaming services, such as Nvidia, providing access to Microsoft's games and even Game Pass subscription content on thirdparty servers. The FTC filed an appeal, but even here it was swiftly denied a request for emergency relief to prevent Microsoft closing the deal before it goes ahead.