Microsoft-Activision merger: US court hearing begins over biggest ever tech deal
Microsoft’s record takeover bid for video games giant Activision Blizzard has gone before a US federal court.
The Windows and Xbox maker wants to buy the company best known for the Call Of Duty, Warcraft, and Diablo franchises for $69bn (£54.2bn). It would be the largest tech acquisition ever.
But the UK competitions watchdog blocked it in April over concerns it would hurt competition in cloud gaming, and America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it would give Microsoft‘s platforms an unfair edge over rival PlayStation as they would secure exclusive access to Activision’s popular games.
Microsoft now has a five-day legal hearing to make its arguments to the FTC – and the case has already brought everything from Indiana Jones to sci-fi role-playing games into the focus of a courtroom.
Here are the key moments from day one – and what’s to come later.
Call Of Duty ‘could have skipped Xbox’
Call Of Duty, the long-running military shooter franchise, is one of the biggest prizes at stake for Microsoft if the acquisition goes through. The most recent entry in the series raked in $1bn in just 10 days.
But Microsoft’s Sarah Bond told the hearing on Thusday that the latest Xboxes risked missing out on the series, as Activision wanted a fresh deal that gave it a greater share of revenue earned by Xbox versions of the games.
She said: “It was clear Call Of Duty would be on PS5. That would not have been good if it was not also on Xbox.”
Microsoft vows that under its ownership, Call Of Duty would remain on PlayStation, where the series sells most, but Sony claims its platform would eventually lose out.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II is the latest instalment in the popular franchise
Microsoft thinks new consoles are five years away
Gamers face a long wait for the next generation of consoles, if Microsoft’s prediction is correct.
In court documents, the company says it doesn’t expect the next Xbox or PS6 until 2028. This came up because Microsoft says it has offered Sony a 10-year deal for Call Of Duty, meaning it would appear on its next console.
A 2028 release would mean eight years after the launch of the current systems, the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S, which both released during the pandemic in late 2020.
Supply chain issues meant they have been hard to find until relatively recently, and demand remains strong.
Xbox Series X and S released in November 2020
Indiana Jones and the exclusivity deal
Never mind his new film, Indiana Jones is now making headlines thanks to video game deal-making.
An Indy game has been in the works at developer MachineGames for several years now. The team is part of the Bethesda Softworks company, which was bought by Microsoft for $7.5bn in 2020.
Speaking on Thursday, Bethesda’s Pete Hines revealed the game is Xbox and PC exclusive, even though the initial agreement with franchise owner Disney (before Microsoft’s acquisition) would have seen it release elsewhere.
But Hines also spoke to the benefits of being able to concentrate on fewer consoles, saying Bethesda’s upcoming science-fiction epic Starfield, one of the most anticipated of 2023, would not be releasing as soon as September if a PS5 version had also been made.
Starfield releases on Xbox and PC in September 2020. Pic: Microsoft/Bethesda
PlayStation and Xbox bosses up next
Friday will see PlayStation chief Jim Ryan and his Xbox counterpart Phil Spencer go head-to-head (no, not in a Zuckerberg vs Musk-style cage fight).
Spencer will be giving evidence live at the hearing, while Ryan will appear in a pre-recorded video.
It means he won’t face potentially awkward questions about an email revealed at Thursday’s hearing, in which he seemed to contradict his public stance by saying he’s “pretty sure” Call Of Duty will remain on PlayStation.
Still to come between now and the trial’s final day next week are the likes of Activision Blizzard and Microsoft chiefs Bobby Kotick and Satya Nadella.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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