The First Pre-Trial Hearing In The FTC’s Suit Against Microsoft Begins Today

It’s been just about a year since Microsoft announced plans to purchase World of Warcraft and Call of Duty developer and publisher Activision Blizzard. In that time the intended merger has received mixed responses from regulating bodies. Some countries have since approved the purchase, while others – like the UK – have held multiple investigations. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against the Xbox developer to stop the deal from going through.

Today that lawsuit takes its first step in court with the initial pre-trial hearing. In their case against Microsoft, the FTC has stated that Microsoft has a history of making content exclusive to their systems and that they believe allowing the company to take control of another large studio will be harmful to competition.

As the FTC is making this case, however, Microsoft has already offered deals to not only Sony (which is the company primarily voicing concern that Microsoft will withhold big Activision Blizzard titles from them in the future) but also Nintendo and Steam. In all three cases, they offered each company ten-year distribution deals for Call of Duty.

Of course, these hearings will take time, so it will be a while before we know what the results are, but as always, we’ll keep you informed.