Microsoft has responded to the re-submission of a lawsuit by a group of gamers who are launching their own legal battle against the company’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
A new 73-page communication from the self-proclaimed gamers incorporates fresh particulars that they assert have been derived from redacted documents provided “directly to the board of directors” at Microsoft, along with information furnished by Sony.
In a statement to Reuters, Microsoft stated that this most recent complaint is founded on “unsubstantiated and implausible assertions regarding the deal’s impact on competition”. Microsoft affirmed that it will “deliver more games to a greater number of people” through its proposed transaction with Activision.
The group of 10 gamers joined forces to file a federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in December of the previous year. The case sought to contend that Microsoft’s acquisition of the Call of Duty creator Activision would “shut out competitors, restrict output, diminish consumer options, increase prices, and further impede competition”.
The lawsuit was dismissed by a judge last month because it did not “plausibly allege that the merger creates a reasonable probability of anti-competitive effects in any relevant market”.
Nevertheless, the judge presiding over the case did permit the lawsuit to be re-submitted if new information were to be included – which, the gamers believe, they have now furnished.
