Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com March 5 news, Microsoft's plan to buy Activision Blizzard has been strongly opposed by Sony, but Sony needs to provide more antitrust evidence to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Microsoft announced in January last year that it would buy Activision Blizzard for $68.5 billion, the largest acquisition in the gaming industry's history. Activision Blizzard is one of the largest game developers in the world, with well-known games such as call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush Legend.

However, the deal attracted the attention of FTC, which thought it could harm market competition and consumer interests, and filed a lawsuit in February to try to block the deal. FTC pointed out that if Microsoft succeeds in acquiring Activision Blizzard, it will give Microsoft an excessive share of the video game market and may deprive users of other platforms of the opportunity to enjoy Activision Blizzard games.

Sony, Microsoft's main competitor in games, also expressed strong dissatisfaction with the deal and provided FTC with documents and testimony in support of its position.

However, during the legal forensics process, Microsoft issued a subpoena to Sony to disclose its exclusive agreements with third-party developers and the fees it paid. Microsoft believes that Sony also often pays high fees to ensure that certain games can only be released on its PlayStation platform or as a priority, and limits the choice of users of other platforms.

Judge FTC recently ruled in support of Microsoft's request and ordered Sony to provide Microsoft with relevant documents and information.

Analysts say the ruling could cause trouble for FTC because it shows that Sony's behavior is similar to that of Microsoft, and may be more common and serious. If FTC cannot prove that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard will lead to a decline in market competitiveness or damage to consumer interests, it will be difficult for the agency to successfully block the deal.

The case is still in the document disclosure stage, and the evidence hearing is scheduled for August 2, so it will be some time before CTOnews.com will keep an eye on it.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.