The day two of the five day hearing of the ongoing court row between Microsoft and US Federal Trade Commission had started and there was an attempt by the lawyer of FTC to convince the judge in placing a preliminary injunction on Microsoft’s plans on purchasing Activision Blizzard for $69B. Few years back, Microsoft was behind another publisher a few years back as reported.
During the testimony, Microsoft Xbox head Phil Spencer stated that they wanted to acquire the mobile gaming publisher Zynga and had invested ample amount of their valuable time as they wanted to secure a major position in the mobile game space but in the end it did not pay off as they decided to not pursue the purchase. Zynga was later acquired for $12.7B in early 2022 by Take Two Interactive.
Spencer added that it was Activision Blizzard who gained their interest after their decision of abandoning their effort behind securing Zynga. The new publisher also includes King,the creator of Candy Crush mobile games. They acquired King back in 2016.
Spencer’s exact words were, “I spent time with Amy Hood, the CFO of [Microsoft], to look at the mobile opportunities that were in the market, and Activision was the biggest publisher of mobile content. And it’s a partner we know well, given a long history of working together, so we both had comfort with the studios and the teams. But most important was their portfolio and engagement they had on mobile”.
The company’s website speaks that their games have 250Mmonthly active users, at the first quarter of 2022.
The court case has its next hearing on Monday and is scheduled to be closed by June 29. The FTC is adamant of their demand as they want the judge to place a preliminary injunction on their plans before the previously agreed-upon deadline of July 18. Microsoft is of the opinion that if such a situation appears to be inevitable then they would be forced to abandon this deal too.
About Nick
Nick is a Software Engineer. He has interest in gadgets and technical stuffs. If you are facing any problem with your Windows, feel free to ask him.