It’s not been a bad week for Microsoft. Not only has the UK Competition and Markets Authority decided that, actually, it doesn’t have a problem with the Xbox-maker taking ownership of Call of Duty at all, but now GamesRadar reports that the dread hand of a California judge has thrown out a so-called “Gamers’ Lawsuit” against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The Gamers’ Lawsuit was brought against Microsoft by a group of ten Call of Duty fans in December last year. Echoing arguments that have also been voiced by the US Federal Trade Commission, they said that Activision was one of “only several independent game publishers in the world that are capable of making the highest production quality and most graphics-intensive videogames,” and that any consolidation of those companies would invariably have a negative impact on videogame players.
They also claimed that Microsoft had lied about not having an incentive to limit the availability of Bethesda games before it acquired that company in 2021, boding poorly for any similar promises it made about Activision Blizzard games. I admit, the term “Gamers’ Lawsuit” has an effect on me like a bucket of…