FTC reportedly timed its opposition to Microsoft's Activision deal to manipulate the European Union (Update) - Windows Central

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently filed a lawsuit to block the merger, citing Microsoft making games like Starfield exclusive as a sign that the company could not be trusted.

A new report suggests that the FTC filed its lawsuit to block the Microsoft-Activision merger after learning that the European Union (EU) planned to discuss potential remedy proposals with Microsoft, dissuading it from reaching a settlement.

However, a new report suggests that the FTC chose to make its case when it did in order to manipulate the European Union (EU), a fellow regulatory authority also scrutinizing the acquisition.

Microsoft repeated President Brad Smith's earlier statement that "Even with confidence in our case, we remain committed to creative solutions with regulators that will protect competition, consumers and workers in the tech sector.”

As my colleague Jez Corden wrote earlier this month, its actions reek of a vague "big tech bad" stance that fails to consider the acquisition from all angles.

Meanwhile, the FTC has clumsily barreled its way into a full-blown lawsuit, complaining about ZeniMax exclusives that Microsoft never said it would make multiplatform in the first place and manipulating the EU to try and keep a settlement from developing.