Last month, Microsoft contributed further to the unfortunate wave of layoffs hitting the video game industry letting go of around 1,900 Microsoft Gaming employees. Yesterday, the FTC filed complaint to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals against the layoffs. Now, Microsoft has issued a response to the complaint.
The FTC argued that the mass layoffs was “inconsistent with Microsoft’s suggestion to this Court that the two companies will operate independently. Moreover, the reported elimination of thousands of jobs undermines the FTC’s ability to order effective relief should the pending administrative proceedings result in a determination that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act.”
Microsoft lawyers say that the FTC’s “factual assertions are incomplete and misleading.” In a letter forwarded to VGC, the lawyers claim that Activision Blizzard was planning to make large-scale layoffs even if the acquisition didn’t happen, noting that job cuts have been occurring across the industry as a whole.
“Consistent with broader trends in the gaming industry, Activision was already planning on eliminating a significant number of jobs while still operating as an independent company,” Microsoft’s lawyers said. “The recent announcement thus cannot be attributed fully to the merger.”
“In continuing its opposition to the deal, the FTC ignores the reality that the deal itself has substantially changed,” A Microsoft spokesperson told VGC in a separate statement.
“Since the FTC lost in court last July, Microsoft was required by the UK competition authority to restructure the acquisition globally and therefore did not acquire the cloud streaming rights to Activision Blizzard games in the United States. Additionally, Sony and Microsoft signed binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation on even better terms than Sony had before.”