Microsoft Agrees $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Deal Lawsuit Settlement.
Microsoft Corp. has reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by a group of gamers who sought to block the company's acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard for $69 billion last year.
Microsoft Corp. has reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by a group of gamers who aimed to block the company's $69 billion acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard from last year.
Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard last October, nearly two years of legal wrangling over supposed anti-monopoly issues. But the legal drama didn’t stop there. Soon after the deal went through, a bunch of gamers launched a private antitrust lawsuit, arguing that the merger would hurt consumers by cutting down on product releases, limiting choices, and driving up prices. The judge dismissed the lawsuit because there was no evidence backing their claims. Following that, the gamers revised their lawsuit and filed it again.
A lawsuit was filed in 2022 in a federal court in San Francisco, representing 10 gamers who are big fans of Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty series, along with other hit games like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo. A lawyer representing the gamers who initiated the lawsuit, Joseph Saveri, stated: "As time passes, Microsoft continues to increase its market power, prices have increased, games continue to be cancelled, development capacities continue to diminish, and Game Pass continues to trend towards a monopoly."
The final verdict was given on October 14 and both sides have decided to drop the lawsuit and will handle their own expenses and fees.
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a leading American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California.
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