Organisation: Microsoft

The judge presiding over the Federal Trade Commission’s bid to stop Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard has questioned the decision of the government’s expert to exclude personal computers and Nintendo from his analysis.

28 June 2023

Google and multiple antitrust advocacy groups are urging the Federal Trade Commission to police conduct they say inhibits competition for cloud computing services.

27 June 2023

Microsoft will not degrade or revoke rivals’ access to Activision Blizzard’s hit video game Call of Duty, the head of Xbox has vowed.

26 June 2023

Microsoft reversed a developer’s plans to sell a highly-anticipated game on multiple consoles after the two companies merged, a game designer has testified during the first day of a trial that will determine if Microsoft/Activision is allowed to proceed.

23 June 2023

New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has raised concerns that Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard could lead to foreclosure in the cloud gaming market, as the companies continue to fight parallel merger challenges in the UK and US.

20 June 2023

Microsoft has urged the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal to grant its application for a summer hearing challenging the national antitrust watchdog’s “outlier” decision to block its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard so as to remove any uncertainty over the deal.

30 May 2023

The European Commission has approved Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard subject to cloud gaming licensing commitments, less than three weeks after the UK’s antitrust enforcer blocked the deal.

15 May 2023

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has refused Microsoft’s request to divide a second-hand software seller’s £270 million damages claim into two separate trials, saying it was not guaranteed to save costs and might even lead to a third trial.

09 May 2023

Lawyers predict that late revisions by the UK’s competition watchdog to its provisional findings in Microsoft/Activision Blizzard will play a key role in the companies' appeal against a merger block that surprised many but was altogether consistent with the agency’s “very strict approach” to behavioural remedies.

26 April 2023

South Africa’s Competition Commission has approved Microsoft’s $67.8 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, following a global assurance from the parties that they will continue to supply the Call of Duty franchise to competitors.

19 April 2023