Trial between US, Microsoft looms over $69B takeover in gaming industry

Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard logo in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. / Photo: Reuters Archive

It's the latest twist in a deal that was announced 17 months ago. Both Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick are expected to testify at some point during five days of hearings in San Francisco before US District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley that will conclude June 29. If Corley declines to issue an injunction, Microsoft could move to close the deal ahead of a July 18 deadline and avert a $3 billion breakup fee.The wrangling over the deal has cast a spotlight on the growing importance of video gaming, a pursuit that has already garnered an estimated of audience of about 3 billion people worldwide who play at least some of the time on a console, personal computer or, increasingly, smartphone.

The FTC has countered the deal will give too much power to Microsoft, already one of the world's richest companies because of a personal computer software empire that the U.S. Justice Department tried to break up in landmark antitrust case more than 20 years ago.

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