SAN FRANCISCO – (AP) – Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told a judge Wednesday that his company’s proposed $69 billion takeover of video game maker Activision Blizzard would be good for the gaming industry, a statement that came as he defended the deal against a federal probe. controllers to stop.
Nadella testified in federal court in San Francisco and said his goal is to get Activision’s games on as many platforms as Microsoft does with its traditional software.
“I love their console games, I love their PC games and I really love their mobile games,” Nadella said. Microsoft still doesn’t have much in the way of mobile games.
US District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley stepped in to ask if Nadella played Activision’s popular game, Candy Crush, and the CEO laughed in court when he said he did.
The exchange brought interest in the event that could make or break what could be the most expensive event in the history of technology.
The case represents a major test of the FTC’s oversight of Big Tech led by Chairman Lina Khan, who has said that US regulators were too lenient in past practices that helped increase the power of companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook. The court battle with Microsoft comes after the FTC took Facebook owner Meta Platforms to court in Silicon Valley to try to prevent a takeover of the fitness company from being rejected by a judge in the case. Microsoft entered into the deal 17 months ago in hopes of expanding its video game presence beyond the Xbox, which has half of the market share of former industry leader Sony and its PlayStation console.
Nadella wanted to convince the court that Microsoft has no interest in shutting down PlayStation by making only Activision’s popular games for Microsoft’s Xbox system.
The statement was made in response to a complaint by the US Federal Trade Commission, which said the takeover would harm competition.
Referring to Sony, Nadella said the PlayStation maker has described the video game market as one focused on creating high-quality games.
“I don’t like that country,” said Nadella.
“There should be no compromises in our support for the Sony platform,” he said, referring to discussions he had with Sony’s CEO shortly after the deal was announced.
The CEO of Activision Bobby Kotick also testified on Wednesday, insisting that there is no business incentive to prevent Microsoft players like Sony from the popular Activision game Call of Duty, because such a move would disturb the dedicated fans of the franchise.
Kotick said it doesn’t make sense to develop Call of Duty for Microsoft’s Xbox console or offer versions of the war game for other systems, such as Sony’s PlayStation.
Removing the game from PlayStation “would do a lot of damage to the reputation,” Kotick said. He added that creating a subpar version of the PlayStation would lead to “vitriol from gamers” and was not something developers Activision could do.
Testimony from the two CEOs came on the fourth day of the trial in San Francisco. The FTC is trying to persuade Corley to issue an injunction to prevent further administrative charges from starting on Aug. 2 in Washington. Microsoft is fighting to close the deal before the July 18 deadline that would have forced it to pay a $3 billion fine to Activision.
Microsoft has hailed the partnership with Activision Blizzard as a way to make popular Activision games like Call of Duty more accessible.
Kotick, who has run Activision since 1991, disagreed with all of Microsoft’s views. Under questioning by an FTC attorney, he admitted to aversion to multi-game subscription services — such as Xbox Game Pass — that Microsoft hopes to ramp up with more Activision games after the takeover. But, he said, “I may have some disagreements with Microsoft’s way of doing business.”
The court also heard this week from Sony games chief Jim Ryan, whose testimony was based on video footage.
Written in April, Ryan said he initially had no reservations about the purchase after private discussions with Kotick and Xbox chief Phil Spencer. But Ryan later said he believed Microsoft would leverage Call of Duty’s popularity to the detriment of the PlayStation, whose players could find more “bad” content.
“The loss at (Sony) comes from players leaving our platform and moving to Xbox,” said Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Microsoft has accused the FTC of ignoring pressure from the company’s gaming division to provide benefits that resulted in a higher price being paid for Activision.
Much of the evidence this week has been taken by financial experts who have come out with the FTC and Microsoft who are predicting how the merger will affect the business. One of the witnesses led the judge to ask Tuesday whether the importance of Call of Duty in the case would differentiate its availability from other game products.
“It’s a unicorn in sustainability, in popularity, in numbers,” Corley said. “It’s certainly well known.”
Microsoft has cited earlier commitments to make Call of Duty available on Nintendo’s Switch console and Nvidia’s game subscription service as evidence that the Activision deal could benefit consumers.
Microsoft also tried to provide evidence that Sony is trying to destroy the contract to maintain its lead in the console market.
Negotiations are expected to conclude on Thursday. Another major regulator, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, has also taken steps to prevent a takeover by Microsoft.
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AP technology writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this report.
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