The US is seeking to legally block Microsoft, which makes Xbox, with its plans to buy the gaming firm Activision Blizzard  – the gaming firm behind hit titles such as Call of Duty. 

Regulators say they feared that if the deal went through, Activision Blizzard’s games would stop being offered on non-Mircosoft gaming consoles. 

The Activision purchase was set to be the biggest in Microsoft’s history. 

The company said it would fight to complete the $69bn (£56bn) deal.

Biden’s pledge against monopolies

The complaint against Microsoft is among the most high-profile legal fights to emerge from President Joe Biden’s pledge to take a harder line against monopolies. 

Activision Blizzard owns video games such as the Call of Duty series, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Candy Crush. 

‘Means and motive to harm competition’ 

The US consumer watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission, filed the complaint. It said Activision was one few of the top video game developers that made high-quality games for multiple devices. 

The deal would give Microsoft “both the means and motive to harm competition” by manipulating pricing, making games worse on its competitors’ video game consoles, “or withholding content from competitors entirely, resulting in harm to consumers,” the agency said in a press release.