The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which enforces antitrust regulation, requested a choose to dam the transaction earlier this month, arguing that the merger would permit Microsoft’s Xbox to get unique entry to Activision video games, leaving Nintendo consoles and Sony’s PlayStation out within the chilly.
Microsoft has countered that the deal would profit players and gaming firms alike, providing to signal a legally binding consent decree with the FTC to supply “Call of Duty” video games to rivals together with Sony for a decade.
Microsoft made the argument in a submitting aimed toward convincing a choose on the FTC to permit the deal to proceed.
The case is an indication of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden taking a muscular method to anti-trust enforcement. But antitrust consultants say the FTC faces an uphill battle to persuade a choose to dam the deal, due to the voluntary concessions supplied by Microsoft to allay fears it might dominate the gaming market.