Ten gamers have filed a self-declared lawsuit in US federal court to stop Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. The lawsuit, citing the Clayton Antitrust Act, says the 10 suspects will suffer “threat of loss or damage” through the settlement. The complaint goes on to say that the new company will “significantly lessen competition” and “may have a tendency to create a monopoly in various markets.”
While it’s unclear how this lawsuit might play out, it represents a stumbling block in the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard saga. The deal, which would be one of the biggest in video game history, has been awash in controversy from the start, with Microsoft offering Sony a 10-year licensing deal to keep the hugely lucrative Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation platforms.
More recently, the Federal Trade Commission attempted a lawsuit to block the deal, citing fears it would harm competition in the video game industry. Previous reports from the New York Post indicated that the FTC was widely divided on whether to pursue such cases against big tech companies in gaming and the like, but it seems the trustbusting side is winning lately.
The FTC announced that Epic Games would pay more than $500 million as part of a settlement to resolve alleged violations of COPPA, among other allegedly unethical business practices. It’s unclear exactly what this climate means for the long-term viability of the Microsoft-ATVI deal, but some pundits have already advised Microsoft to back out of the deal for its own sake — a path Microsoft has flatly rejected. .
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