FTC v. Microsoft: all the news from the big Xbox courtroom battle
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Canada’s Competition Bureau has written to Judge Corley to correct “factual inaccuracies” in the Microsoft / Activision court filings.
Microsoft had claimed three things its filings:
1 - Every single worldwide regulator that has examined the deal other than the FTC has rejected this theory [that Xbox will take COD away from PlayStation]
2 - As a result of these efforts, all but one foreign regulator to pass on the issue [cloud gaming] has cleared the transaction. The lone exception is the United Kingdom’s CMA.
3 - Ultimately, Lee’s analysis provides no basis to disregard the real world, where Sony has a favorable offer for COD, Xbox has made plain that it wants to provide COD to Sony (and in fact needs to continue to sell to Sony), and regulators around the world all agree that withholding COD from Sony would be unprofitable and is thus not a serious concern.
Canada’s regulator says:
Contrary to the foregoing quotations from the Memorandum, in a videoconference on May 5, 2023, the Bureau communicated to Microsoft and Activision’s Canadian counsel that the Bureau has concluded that the proposed merger is likely to result in a substantial prevention and/or lessening of competition with respect to gaming consoles and multigame subscription services (as well as cloud gaming), and that the Bureau is continuing to monitor the transaction
