Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint Thursday to block Microsoft's $69 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard, the maker of popular games Call of Duty and Candy Crush.
"In a complaint issued today, the FTC pointed to Microsoft's record of acquiring and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles," the agency said in a press release Thursday.
The deal is the largest in the history of video gaming industry and "would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business," the FTC said.
"Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets," said Holly Vedova, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.
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The FTC is concerned that Microsoft having exclusive control over Activision titles could have negative effects on customers noting that "Activision currently has a strategy of offering its games on many devices regardless of producer."
"With control over Activision's blockbuster franchises, Microsoft would have both the means and motive to harm competition by manipulating Activision's pricing, degrading Activision's game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision's content, or withholding content from competitors entirely, resulting in harm to consumers," the FTC said.
The commission voted 3-1 to issue the complaint, which will be tried in a formal hearing before an administrative law judge.
The announcement comes amid a number of major developments in the video game industry.
Microsoft announced this month that it would raise the price of first party games from $60 to $70 and that it would enter into an agreement to bring the Call of Duty franchise to Nintendo consoles if the Activision Blizzard deal goes through.
Activision Blizzard decided not to renew a 14-year licensing agreement with the Chinese company NetEase in November. As a result, gamers in mainland China will soon be unable to access popular tittles like Overwatch and World of Warcraft.
