The federal trade commission is reportedly opening an inquiry into sony 's planned acuquistion of Bungie , marking a notable ramp-up in federal oversight of gaming mergers during a period of major industry consolidation. According to sources speaking with information, last week the FTC began seeking more information about the deal in an investigation that could potentially delay its closing by six months or even more. Though a closing date wasn't announcement, The information reports it could be pushed into early 2023.
The FTC is reportedly focused on concerns that sony might be motivated to prevent competing companies and services, such as Xbox, 2.That means examining how popular destiny and wheather a possible restriction would meaningfully harm sony ' s competiors and create antitrust violations. While sony has publicly committed to keeping Bungie games cross-platforms, its ability to restrict both current titles and future releases in the future is a point of antitrust concern.
This investigation represents another sign of the FTC's recent, more aggressive approach toward potential antitrust issues in the gaming industry. While it is customary for the FTC to look into large deals, the spree of major gaming acquisition in recent years as well as the growing size of such deals appears to have prompted greater scrutiny, particularly under Biden-appointed FTC chair Lina Khan.
For instance, in February, reports suggested that the FTC was similarly investigating the planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft to determine whether it would harm consumers, partners, or competitors. And Khan has stood at the head of a planned crackdown on merger guidelines, and has similarly pushed a block of a planned Nvidia acquisition and reopened an antitrust case against Meta. The FTC's investigation doesn't necessarily mean the acquisition will be meaningfully impacted, especially given the immense legal challenge required to ultimately block a deal. However, the increased scrutiny on the gaming and tech sectors will likely remain a consideration in future acquisitions as more and more major companies express interest in adding to a growing pile of internal studios and the industry is further consolidated.
Sony's plan to purchase Destiny developer Bungie is now reportedly being probed by the Federal Trade Commission. The $3.6 billion deal was announced in January and comes at a time when the FTC has taken a more aggressive stance toward big tech mergers. According to The Information (via VGC), the FTC may not be in a position to block the deal, but it can still review it, reinforcing its stance to probe for potential antitrust issues in the gaming industry.Consolidation in the gaming industry has increased recently, and while Microsoft's acquisition of Zenimax and Bethesda wasn't investigated by the FTC when it was completed in March 2021, the $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is being looked into. Though the sale isn't final yet, Activision Blizzard shareholders have approved it and the next step will involve scrutiny from the FTC and regulatory bodies in Europe and China. Sony's long-term plans for Bungie include making the studio an "independent subsidiary" of PlayStation that will still develop games for multiple platforms once the deal is complete. In other acquisition news, Square Enix announced this week that it had sold its Western studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal to Embracer Group for $300 million, allowing the gaming giant to streamline its operations and invest in future technologies. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has also dropped hints that Sony will be looking to acquire more studios in the future.
Enjoyed this article? Stay informed by joining our newsletter!
You must be logged in to post a comment.