It will be challenging for the Redmond-based company to take over Activision Blizzard King, as several countries oppose the $68.7 billion deal.

The US’ Federal Trade Commission, the FTC, could announce an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in a week or two, which means it would not be suitable for the industry if Microsoft were to eat Activision Blizzard King for breakfast after ZeniMax Media. (The latter includes the publisher Bethesda and all its studios and IPs, including Dishonored, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Quake, and many other IPs.)

But it is not only in the US that they could be sued: in Sweden, the authorities have already sued Microsoft, and this move could be the first step in the dominoes falling, i.e., the FTC could follow the Swedish example). The US tech company (which likely has a bottomless wallet since Windows and Office give Microsoft a lot of revenue!) will, therefore, not be able to expand the Xbox Game Studios family smoothly, so the consolidation we’ve seen in the gaming industry will take some time.

Bloomberg has reported that Microsoft still needs to make concessions to the FTC for In the UK (CMA) and Europe (European Commission), Microsoft has already tried to soften up the authorities, which is why we heard that Xbox would keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for ten years if Microsoft could own Activision Blizzard King (don’t forget King, which would give them a robust mobile presence).

Analysts at Bloomberg believe that if a lawsuit between the FTC and Microsoft does indeed emerge, the tech company will win the case. Still, there would be a side effect: the deal would be delayed, which would not be a positive move for Microsoft (and Activision Blizzard King) investors, so their stock value would significantly drop…

Source: PSL