There Are Some Concerns About the Activision Acquisition, According to FTC
There appear to be more roadblocks to Microsoft getting Activision. And this time, it is coming from the government.
Specifically, this is coming from the FTC, which is also known as Federal Trade Commission. This was pushed forward by a combined letter by four senators: Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Bernie Sanders (Vermont), Cory Booker (New Jersey), and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island). There were three large issues that were highlighted by said letter: impact on workers, accountability for Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick, and industry consolidation.
And it seems that the FTC took this letter seriously, as this acquisition is now under investigation by the organization. Some go over what has been publically assured, with Microsoft saying that Activision Blizzard games will not be limited to the Xbox consoles, and will continue to be released on the PlayStation consoles.
However, FTC Chair Lina Khan has asserted that there are multiple issues that are being examined during this investigation. One part is a privacy concern, with the possibility of the two companies having their customer data merged and cross-examined. Another is what this will do to the game developer labor market (as both are large companies and could cause problems in the North American video game labor in the industry, particularly when it comes to redundancies), and perhaps more importantly, what this may mean for Activision Blizzard’s accusations for their toxic work environment. There has been only one gender discrimination suit that has been settled, out of the three we are aware of. And even with the possibility of the other lawsuits having complications, this could mean there could be complications with the Activision settlement, as they need various actions put into place to follow the settlement’s stipulations.
Still, the investigation is still in the early stages, and may not affect the planned acquisition- which should be taking place in 2023, if not barred from doing so.