Microsoft’s plan to acquire Activision Blizzard may be hitting a roadblock soon. According to a report from Bloomberg, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will review this landmark games’ industry deal.
This $68.7 billion acquisition of the now controversial makers of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and more has resulted in many questions being asked by fans of the gaming industry. One of the biggest of those inquiries is whether or not it’s even legal under monopolistic and anti-trust laws. That question will be answered by the FTC before Microsoft’s deal clears by the end of fiscal Q4 2023.
Heading the FTC in this ruling is Linda Khan, who is reportedly very opposed to potential monopolies. She, partnered with the FTC and Justice Department wanting to be harder on big tech, even when it’s “flexing some big muscle,” is a great potential hurdle for Microsoft and its plan to own so many pieces of the AAA western gaming market.
This isn’t the first, nor last big acquisition conducted by Microsoft or any other large body in gaming. Last year Microsoft made a similar move with its purchase of games developer Bethesda for $7.5 billion. Even more recently, Sony fired shots back at Microsoft’s acquisition spree by moving to purchase the creators of the iconic Halo franchise, Bungie, for $3.6 billion, kicking off what some are calling the “Purchase Wars.”
While there are many factors pointing towards whether Microsoft’s deal will go through, no one will know for sure for quite some time until the FTC reports finally come into play.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?