Our latest coverage of microsoft.
With everything that Activision Blizzard has gone through over the past two years, it’s a wonder that Bobby Kotick has still managed to hold on to his position as the company’s CEO, even amidst accusations of attempted murder. Microsoft’s impending and highly controversial acquisition of the company, however, might just be what knocks him off his lofty and apparently untouchable [...]
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Earlier this week, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick appeared on CNBC for a very rare live interview, presumably in response to the UK’s potential rejection of the company’s merger with Microsoft. But, instead of trying to appease the UK Consumer and Markets Authority (CMA) that’s been running the deal through a fine sieve since its announcement, Kotick decides to talk [...]
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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been looking over Microsoft’s shoulder over antitrust concerns since the tech giant announced its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard. It’s investigation into the matter has now come to an end with the unsurprising conclusion that the merger will be detrimental to competition and subsequently to UK gamers. “The CMA provisionally found that [...]
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Last month, a group of private gamers filed a lawsuit against Microsoft to block its acquisition of Activision Blizzard under Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914. This is around the same time that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed their own antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. Microsoft, however, has requested that the judge delay the gamer group’s lawsuit [...]
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A few weeks ago, the QA analysts of ZeniMax Media, including ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda Softworks, announced their plans to form a union under the Communication Workers of America. As of today, the ZeniMax Workers United has been formally recognized as Microsoft’s first worker union and is the largest union in the video games industry to date in the [...]
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The Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft has taken its first steps forward with yesterday’s first pre-trial hearing. As we previously reported, the FTC is looking to block the multi-billion dollar merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard on grounds that it will stifle competition and will give the former the means to pull popular games from other video game [...]
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The US Federal Trade Commission and the UK Competition Markets Authority apparently aren’t the only ones looking to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. A group of 10 gamers has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit to stop the merger over the same gaming monopoly concerns as the government regulatory agencies. The antitrust lawsuit argues that the $68.7 billion merger violates [...]
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Last week, Microsoft revealed that it was willing to enter into a 10-year licensing agreement with Sony to allow the latter continued access to the Call of Duty franchise on the PlayStation should the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger push through. Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer followed up that announcement with a tweet that Microsoft has made similar arrangements with Nintendo to [...]
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Late last month, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission revealed that it was laying the groundwork to block the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger due to antitrust concerns. Today, the commission has formally announced that it will be moving forward with its plans to file a federal antitrust lawsuit to put a stop to the controversial acquisition. According to the FTC, the merger [...]
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Over the past few months, the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger has come under intense scrutiny from various government agencies across the world for its potential effect on the video game market, especially since Sony might end up losing access to Activision Blizzard titles on the PlayStation. Sony has also argued that there won’t be anything to stop Microsoft from making games [...]
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