More and more juicy internal details are being revealed around the topic of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Gaming Bible reports.

In January 2022, Microsoft announced that it had begun plans to acquire Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $68.7 billion. Since then, however, myriad obstacles have stood in the way of the almost-realized goal. Whether it’s Sony PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, who is trying his best to prevent the deal, or market regulators, who are also against it.

Back in April this year, despite reports stating that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was a near-realised goal, UK market regulator the CMA sensationally blocked the deal due to Microsoft’s excessive influence in the market and overshadowing other companies.
A few weeks later, the FTC tried to block the acquisition attempt by Microsoft.

During the lawsuit, Xbox Game Studios boss at Microsoft Matt Booty said he actively encouraged Xbox’s CFO to spend money to strengthen the Xbox Game Pass library so it could compete with Sony’s PlayStation Plus subscription service.

Relatedly, the FTC lawsuit also reveals that Microsoft was willing to purchase studios including SEGA, Bungie and others in order to knock Sony out of the gaming market for good. Additionally, the FTC believes that Xbox exclusivity for Starfield harms Activision’s takeover of Blizzard.