While there is noise that Saudi Arabia will officially not protest Activision Blizzard buyout, Xbox and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer claims that communication with regulators about the biggest gaming industry purchase to date are making good progress.
"I feel good about the progress that we've been making, but I go into the process supportive of people who maybe aren't as close to the gaming industry asking good, hard questions about ‘what is our intent? What does this mean? If you play it out over five years, is this constricting a market? Is it growing a market?"
This is a big quote from Spencer during an interview that Bloomberg highlighted as he is going to be featured on the next edition of Bloomberg Studio 1.0 with Emily Chang.
To be honest, if this is true and applies also in the United States, it is a big contrast to the mentality of current FTC leadership that are interested in stopping Big Tech Industry growth by members buying itself.
But a legal standpoint to object the Activision Blizzard purchase is a tough one as 1, Microsoft is not gaming exclusive company, 2, FTC will need to enforce that vertical purchase definition needs a review as this aims that this will be another gateway as AT&T used with DIRECTV and Time Warner as a direct example and 3, it is possible that the FTC cannot say "market shrinking" freely as there are still a big cake in the gaming industry and Microsoft is thankfully of the indy community of devs.