The era of Microsoft absolute domination might be over before it started. The FTC and ordinary gamers have both sued Microsoft and Activision over the tech giant’s $67B purchases of the video game developer, which many see as Microsoft monopolizing the gaming industry.
Microsoft is getting attacked on all sides over this purchase…and deservedly so.
Ever since the tech conglomerate surprisingly bought Bethesda Softworks’, the famed developers of The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout series, Doom series, Wolfenstein series, and the highly anticipated Starfield, parent company ZeniMax Media back in 2021, the company has been on a tear to monopolize the ever-expanding gaming medium.
Having already developed the Xbox, one of the two most popular (and really only) gaming consoles, Microsoft has been one of the biggest competitors in the gaming space for years. The company had 22 gaming development studios prior to the purchase of Bethesda, and were making extremely popular Xbox exclusive games, such as Forza series, Halo series, and Gears 5.
Microsoft didn’t need to go out and purchase Bethesda as the games the studio made were already sold on the Microsoft store, and the company most certainly didn’t need to buy Activision: one of the largest video game studios ever.
Activision is rather infamous for crunching its developers with ill-timed release dates and producing below average games now, but this studio was once the pinnacle of gaming. With games like the World of Warcraft series, the Overwatch series, Candy Crush, the Diablo series, and the legendary Call of Duty series, Activision is responsible for creating some of the greatest video games of all-time.
Moreover, the studio was independent and freely able to sell its beloved games on any gaming platform in the world, which includes the Microsoft store and the PlayStation store.
Yet, with the $67B purchase of the company by Microsoft, that might no longer be possible. And that’s why the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and gamers have taken matters into their own hands and sued the companies over the transaction.
Both gamers, using The Clayton Antitrust Law of 1914, and the FTC have accused this purchase of monopolizing the gaming industry as the transaction gives Microsoft way too much power over what games can be released to the general public without being available on multiple platforms.
(Bethesda Softworks/Microsoft-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim-Official Trailer)
Essentially, having beloved games like The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout series, Call of Duty series, and World of Warcraft series all owned by the same company, who did not have a hand in their original creation, provides too much of a risk of uncompetitive market behavior.
And especially so with Microsoft’s self-proclaimed commitments to making “Microsoft Store exclusive games” and the companies past behavior with buying up other studios.
How can one trust Microsoft to allow the gaming market and industry to flourish when it not only demonstrates its desire to absolutely dominate by buying 23 individual gaming studios, but also openly says it will force these studios to only makes games for its platforms? In my opinion, you can’t. Microsoft has shown its true colors.
Furthermore, how is that fair to Sony, Valve (Steam), and every other video game distribution service that makes it money and business model off selling these said games to the billions of consumers? Microsoft already has one of the largest footprints in the gaming industry and it seems pretty obvious that it just wants to make it the only footprint with the Activision purchase.
This is honestly just a massive ego flex as the company already lost out on the PC market race to Apple twenty years ago, so it’s just trying to flex its muscles in another industry.
I hope the FTC or the gamers lawsuit are successful as Microsoft might become too powerful to stop from monopolizing if it is allowed to purchase even more beloved, legacy gaming studios.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Activision/Call of Duty) (Official Launch Trailer | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Bethesda Softworks/Microsoft) (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Official Trailer – YouTube)
