After undergoing scrutiny by the US-based regulatory board, the Federal Trade Comission (FTC), the body is officially moving to stop Microsoft's landmark $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Citing Xbox gaining "control of top video game franchises, enabling it to harm competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading rivals’ access to its popular content" as the reason.

The announcement cites Call of Duty as one example, but also what happened with Bethesda becoming a part of Xbox. With Starfield and Redfall becoming exclusive to Xbox and PC, this is a clear example of Microsoft withholding "games from rival consoles".

“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” said Holly Vedova, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”

And with Activision Blizzard franchises Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch a part of the acquisition, the FTC sees this as a direct threat to competition in the videogame business. Summing the decision to block the deal as follows.

With control over Activision’s blockbuster franchises, Microsoft would have both the means and motive to harm competition by manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision’s content, or withholding content from competitors entirely, resulting in harm to consumers.

No doubt this is a massive blow to Microsoft's planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which is the biggest deal of its kind in history. As to the next steps, Microsoft can fight the decision in court though that remains to be seen. Perhaps yesterday's commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles and Steam for a decade is a sign that it will.