According to a news report from Bloomberg, Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard is facing further opposition from Nvidia and Google. The companies have reportedly expressed their concerns about the deal to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), stating that it could give Microsoft an unfair advantage in cloud gaming, subscription-based gaming services, and mobile gaming.
This supports the FTC’s own lawsuit to stop the deal, filed in December 2022, over concerns that Microsoft will use its ownership of Activision Blizzard “to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”
Sony has been the most vocal opponent of the acquisition, but Nvidia and Google also have a stake in the matter. Nvidia operates the cloud gaming service GeForce Now and could be worried about the potential for Activision Blizzard’s games to become exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service. Meanwhile, Google recently shut down its cloud gaming service, Stadia, and could be concerned about Microsoft’s potential to make King’s mobile games, such as Candy Crush, exclusive to its own mobile gaming store.
A Microsoft representative has stated that the company is “prepared to address and have been proactively addressing issues raised by regulators or competitors to ensure that the deal closes with confidence,” and that they “want people to have more access to games, not less.” However, the resistance to the buyout seems to be strengthening, with regulatory bodies in the UK and EU also declining to simply approve the deal. This could force Microsoft to make more concessions regarding access to Activision Blizzard games, or potentially lead to the FTC killing the deal outright, as was the case with Nvidia’s bid to acquire UK-based chip maker Arm in 2022.