Everything that ex-FTC chair Lina Khan said would happen is happening.
If you kept up with the recent news about Microsoft’s almost $70 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard, you might remember that Khan was one of the few people who publicly opposed the acquisition.
At the time, she contended that merging the companies would result in higher prices and job losses. This was followed by a long legal battle, ultimately ending with the FTC’s defeat and the deal being approved.
Khan became a more and more controversial person as things progressed. Some of her passionate supporters even asked her to withdraw and let the deal go through.
Following a 50% price increase for the subscription service Game Pass, Khan is now proving to be right.
Writing on X (or Twitter) she said:
Following Microsoft’s purchase of Activision, prices have gone up considerably and many employees have been let go, negatively impacting both people who play games and those who create them.
As has been observed in many industries, when markets become more concentrated-meaning fewer companies control a larger share-prices tend to rise. This connection is frequently seen, with increased consolidation often leading to higher costs for consumers. For example, this pattern is common in sectors like healthcare and telecommunications.
When leading companies grow so large that their failures won’t significantly impact them, they might act in ways that harm customers, knowing they won’t face serious repercussions.”
Following the takeover, Microsoft has reduced its workforce by several thousand employees, particularly within Xbox. As the company focuses on increasing profits, it has also substantially raised the price of Game Pass and reduced the features offered with the service.
According to a report from Bloomberg earlier today, adding Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to a subscription service – a key reason many gamers supported the acquisition – resulted in a loss of over $300 million for the company. Remarkably, 82% of the game’s full-price sales during its first month in the US came from PlayStation.
Let’s hope gamers remember this unfortunate situation the next time a major technology company merges, and it makes the news.
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2025-10-04 10:07