European Commission rejects FTC over Microsoft-Bethesda deal

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The drama over Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard continues, and one day after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its intention to sue the Xbox company and block the purchase, new information casts doubt on the motives and statements of the U.S. regulatory authorities.

In its official statement from yesterday, December 8, the FTC listed the justifications for its opposition to the Activision-Blizzard acquisition. The likelihood that Microsoft would make the most significant IPs exclusive to its gaming environment and the worry that it is hiding its true intentions regarding the console market is among them.

Said claim was supported by what occurred following ZeniMax | Bethesda's acquisition and the news that Starfield and Redfall would be Xbox exclusives. They wouldn't be released on PlayStation or Nintendo.

However, the EU declined to say how their own investigation is going - their decision is coming end of March.

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) December 9, 2022

Microsoft "said before the European Commission" that it would not remove video games from other platforms since it was not its objective to harm competitors, thus the FTC claims that if it had broken this promise, Microsoft would have been in violation of its arrangement.

In response, the European regulator came out right away to refute what the FTC claimed, and this was its response, according to information from the corporate mergers and acquisitions official site MLex: "Microsoft didn't make any commitments to EU regulators not to release Xbox-exclusive content following its takeover of ZeniMax Media."

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It is also stated that the "EU declined to say how their own investigation is going," leaving one party's perspective in the open with no confirmation or contradiction. Their decision will be revealed in March of 2023. There were many negative reactions to FTC due to the fact that their previous announcement had been published about 24 hours ago showing this act to be unprofessional and leaving uncertainties about their possible intentions.

What is your opinion on this recent update on Microsoft's deal and FTC? Let us know in the comments!