The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will file an injunction to block Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, CNN reports.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will file an injunction to block Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, CNN reports.
I tend to disagree. Why would this acquisition by Microsoft be bad?
Are they actually a monopoly? If yes, what exactly do they have a monopoly on? Video games? PC Games? I would argue neither of them.
They are not the only provider of video games. Far from it. There is soooo much competition in the video game market.
What they should really tackle in my opinion are all the exclusivity agreements. Cause those really hurt consumers.
Want to watch the premier league? Better buy a Sky subscription for 30€/month. Oh, you are not happy with what you get? Well, don’t watch the Premier League then. Go watch the Bundesliga, or the Austrian Bundesliga. Hmm what? Oh yes, they are also only on Sky, so if you want to watch Football at all, buy Sky or go to the high seas.
THAT is much worse than Microsoft just being a giant.
You could also tackle the exclusive licenses in video games. FIFA selling their licenses (nearly) exclusively to EA is a very big reason why EA FIFA got as big as it got.
TLDR: I don’t mind monopolies as long as they don’t abuse their market position.
You make a good argument. Antitrust laws aren’t solely about stopping a business that has become a monopoly but preventing monopolistic behavior in the first place. For example, buying out competitors and new comers to limit consumer choice. You have a point that there is a ton of choice in the gaming industry.
Let’s also look at it this way: Microsoft also owns Xbox. And according to Axios, they manage 23 game studios. They might not be exhibiting anticompetitive behavior yet, but buying up publishers and studios allows them to control larger and larger portions of the market. That can affect anything from the cost of games to consumers to the amount developers can get paid. It can also affect publishers’ access to Xbox as a platform.
Microsoft doesn’t seem to be doing those things right now, but the whole point of anti trust laws is to prevent businesses from getting to the size that they are capable of exerting that kind of force in the overall market.