Federal Trade Commission Is Investigating Sony’s Bungie Acquisition

gamerant.com:

There have been some interesting and major acquisitions in the gaming industry over the past few months. First, Microsoft announced it was purchasing Activision Blizzard, adding the World of Warcraft and Call of Duty publisher to its increasingly growing roster of big developers. Most recently, a few of Square Enix's Western studios were bought out by media conglomerate Embracer Group, including Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics. In between those two announcements was a deal between Sony and Bungie, where the latter would be bought for around $3.6 billion.

So far, the deal has not yet gone through, despite some fans already wondering what PlayStation exclusive project Bungie could be cooking up. It seems that the acquisition will have to pass over some hurdles before it goes through, too, as the US Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, is investigating the deal. The FTC previously investigated Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard for insider trading.

Sony Spending Over $1 Billion to Keep Bungie Employees On Board After Acquisition

The FTC's probe into Sony's Bungie deal does not stem from suspicion of insider trading or the size of the acquisition. Instead, the FTC's investigations into both the Microsoft and Sony deals reflect a more aggressive stance against mergers in big tech, possibly trying to combat monopolies in the gaming industry. At the reveal of the probe into the Microsoft acquisition, FTC chairwoman Lina Khan stated that corporate consolidation could inflict «a host of harms,» including lower wages, higher prices, and reduced innovation.

It is unknown whether the Bungie deal is being investigated for a similar reason, as many believe that Sony's acquisition could support innovation because the