Microsoft's ongoing acquisition of gaming goliath Activision Blizzard has been ongoing for what feels like a millenia. Industry regulators have been understandably scrutinizing the deal at every turn, while Sony has constantly argued against the acquisition over Call of Duty exclusivity concerns. The FTC has even attempted to block the deal by suing Microsoft, claiming that the acquisition could damage competition in the games industry.
However, it now seems like Microsoft is planning to make the FTC's suit a non-issue, as the company is reportedly planning to push the deal through regardless. According to sources speaking with the New York Post, Microsoft is increasingly confident about securing approval from both the UK and the EU regarding the acquisition, and will reportedly "cram this down the FTC's throats".
It's expected that UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will approve the deal this week, while a favorable decision is also expected to be delivered by the European Comission as early as next month. If both regulators see no issue with the deal, it will make the FTC's arguments over competition in the US difficult to maintain, and Microsoft knows it. Sources are suggesting that once Microsoft gets the approval of the European Comission, the company will attempt to close the deal as quickly as possible.
Of course, due to the nature of deals like this and the amount of hoops that Microsoft still has to jump through, closing the deal probably won't be as simple as signing on a dotted line. The FTC will probably go down swinging, though there's very little it can do to persuade a judge if Microsoft claims the anti-competition issues have been settled due to the approval of both the CMA and EU. The FTC could also keep pursuing the case even if Microsoft does close the deal, although it will face an uphill battle if these decisions go Microsoft's way as they're expected to.
Microsoft could definitely do with some good news right about now too, especially after reports emerged which claimed that the company is reportedly very unhappy with Xbox and its lack of first-party offerings. Industry insider Jeff Grubb claimed that the rate of Xbox's first-party releases is nowhere near high enough for Microsoft's liking. Those issues could be eased with the upcoming releases of both Redfall and Starfield, and Xbox will definitely want both to hit the ground running if it wants a reputation for high-quality first-party titles that its rivals PlayStation and Nintendo have managed to create for themselves.