Microsoft Corp. said that antitrust regulators shrugged off its offer to make "Call of Duty" available to gaming rivals — including Sony Group Corp. — as part of its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc.
The company, which needs regulatory approval in 16 countries for the Activision deal, made the offer before meetings with US Federal Trade Commission commissioners last week, according to President Brad Smith. But the agency went ahead and voted to sue to block the deal.
“The thing that probably disappoints me is not that we will have to present this case to a judge in a court because this is a case in which I have great confidence,” Smith said at Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting Tuesday. “I’m disappointed that the FTC didn’t give us the opportunity to even sit down with the staff to even talk about our proposal to even see if there was a solution there.”
