With January normally being a quiet time in the industry, we’ve had three massive purchases beginning with Take-Two purchasing Zynga, Microsoft purchasing Activision Blizzard, and Sony purchasing Bungie.
And we know that more acquisitions are coming this year because we’ve been told to keep an eye out for more from Jim Ryan.
Microsoft’s acquisition has a lot of work cut out to finalize its biggest acquisition. Per Bloomberg, one of the biggest obstacles right now is the FTC(Federal Trade Commission) as it plans to investigate the purchase and make sure everything is completed by the book and that the purchase does no harm to the market. The antitrust investigation is usually overseen by the Justice Department, but because of the stipulations, the FTC is involved.
With recent guideline changes to the FTC, it appears that with support from the Justice Department the purchase is undergoing a “forceful approach to reviewing deals, particularly by the biggest technology companies.” This is done because these massive companies can leverage dominance in one industry to gain power in another.
Last year saw Microsoft acquire ZeniMax in a similar deal but that deal was closed before the current guidelines and regulations took effect. Now, Lina Khan will lead the investigation.
If all goes well, Microsoft will close the deal at the end of Q4 2023, adding franchises like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch to its roster.
