by Paresh Dave
(Reuters) – Microsoft said on Thursday that its proposed takeover of video game publisher Activision would benefit both gamers and other companies in the industry.
Microsoft announced in January that it wanted to buy Activision for an amount estimated at $69 billion (€65.04 billion).
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), America’s competition police, launched proceedings at the beginning of the month aimed at blocking this takeover, saying it feared serious damage to competition.
Microsoft has filed an appeal to convince a court judge to approve its proposed takeover.
Brad Smith, president of the American computer giant, announced earlier this month that Microsoft had proposed to the FTC to sign an order according to which the company undertakes to give its competitors access to the games “Call of Duty” for a decade. .
“The acquisition of a single game by the manufacturer of the third console on the market cannot disrupt such a competitive industry. Especially if the manufacturer has made it clear that it will not block (access) to the game”, explains Microsoft in the appeal filed on Thursday .
(Reporting by Diane Bartz and Paresh Dave; French version by Camille Raynaud)