Leaders | CoD and chips

Trustbusters should let Microsoft buy Activision Blizzard

Blocking the deal is as likely to harm consumers as it is to protect them

An employee tests a version of Call of Duty on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, at Activision Blizzard, Infinity Ward Division, in Woodland Hills, Calif. Call of Duty has been one of the best-selling video games for the past decade-plus, and is at the heart of the developing antitrust fight over whether Microsoft will be able to acquire Activision Blizzard. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)

In the PAST two decades video gaming has gone from a nerdy hobby to a blockbuster industry, with revenues over five times bigger than the cinema box office. Today it is home to one of the largest tech mergers in history. In January Microsoft agreed to pay $69bn to buy Activision Blizzard, a game studio. Yet the megadeal may not go ahead. America’s Federal Trade Commission—one of 16 regulators around the world to have taken an interest—will probably say soon that it will sue to block it.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “CoD and chips”

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