While many have celebrated the recent acquisition of ActivisionBlizzard On the part of Microsoft, others are against this movement, and hope that the court of justice of the United States avoids this process. However, one analyst has pointed out that this is probably not the case, and this purchase will not be viewed as a violation of antitrust laws.
Although it is true that this purchase has to be evaluated by legal courts in the United States, a process that will end until 2023, David Hoppe, managing partner of the San Francisco-based media and technology law firm, known as Gamma Law, has pointed out that Microsoft is not breaking antitrust laws, and this will be a process similar to Bethesda. This was what Hoppe commented on it:
“The acquisition is another example of so-called ‘vertical integration’ in the video game industry: a console manufacturer (distributor) acquires a game developer (producer). Of course, this is the largest such deal in the history of the gaming industry, but US courts have historically been unwilling to apply restrictive antitrust principles to vertical transactions.
It is difficult to apply the principles of legal competition when the ‘products’ are creative works such as video games, each of which is possibly unique and therefore not in direct competition.
It would be quite ridiculous at this point to try to make an antitrust case on the grounds that the acquisition will result in less choice for the consumer in the shooting game product category, for example.”
In this sense, it has been mentioned that the integration of King would be used to justify this purchase, since it would give Microsoft a great presence in the mobile market. However, Hoppe also sees a downside to this acquisition, since gives Activision Blizzard execs an easy way out of their problems. This was what he commented:
“[Los claros ganadores] It’s probably Activision executives, who benefit from a huge diversion of attention from a huge crisis and are certainly assured of rich exit packages at the right time.”
Thus, it is clear that there will be no big problem with the purchase of Activision Blizzard. Although he does not rule out some inconvenience, it seems that at the end of the day, Microsoft will be able to continue with its plans. On related issues, Sony’s shares declined after this acquisition. Similarly, it seems that Bobby Kotick tried to buy Kotaku to clean up his image.
Editor’s note:
It is clear that this will not be a problem for Microsoft. While the argument could be made that Activision Blizzard can also be considered a publisher, which would make this process more complicated, the purchase of Bethesda is a precedent that makes it clear that at the end of the day everything will go according to plan.
Via: IGN