On Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that keeping Activision games exclusive would “make no strategic sense” in response to antitrust worries that a proposed $69 billion merger of the two companies would unjustly consolidate power.
The Federal Trade Commission has urged a judge to block the proposed merger because, according to the FTC, it will grant Microsoft, the company behind the Xbox gaming device, exclusive access to Activision titles, which include the hugely popular “Call of Duty.” Nintendo and Sony would be left completely unaffected, according to the FTC.
Throughout his roughly 45-minute statement on Wednesday, On Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella refuted that worry.
He remarked, “I was raised in a corporation that always thought that software should run on as many platforms as feasible.
When asked if Microsoft would be motivated to prevent the games from being played on Sony’s PlayStation in order to boost sales of its Xbox consoles, Nadella said, “It makes no economic sense and no strategic sense.”
Microsoft has consented to grant competitors a licence to use the popular video game “Call of Duty” in order to allay FTC worries. It has also maintained that licensing the games to anyone and everyone will benefit it financially.
In order to give the agency’s internal judge time to make a decision, the FTC has asked San Francisco judge Jacqueline Scott Corley to temporarily halt the deal from closing. In the past, when one side lost in federal court, the other frequently yielded, and the internal procedure was abandoned.
In order to prevent consumers from being hurt by strong firms, the FTC, which upholds antitrust law, has become stricter on mergers under the Biden administration.
Activision’s “Call of Duty,” one of the most popular videogames of all time, has been a major topic of testimony throughout the trial.
Earlier on Wednesday, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick testified that if Microsoft acquired his business and forbade other gaming platforms from offering “Call of Duty,” many of the 100 million monthly active gamers would become disenchanted, and the game’s popularity would suffer.
Kotick asserted that it was crucial to have the game available across several platforms, including consoles, mobile devices, and personal computers. “You would have a revolt if you were to remove the game from one platform,” he remarked.
In Kotick’s view, Microsoft has no need to limit who sells Activision’s games if the purchase for the company is successfully completed. For instance, he claimed that removing “Call of Duty” from Sony’s PlayStation would be “very detrimental” to Activision’s company.
He also admitted that his own shares would be valued at over $400 million as a result of the deal, which he indicated earlier on Wednesday he wanted “very much” to close.
Many countries have approved the transaction, although the FTC in the US and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority have rejected it.
