HEY, FTC! (Premium)

Let me get this straight. In a world in which Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta are abusing very real monopolies, you’ve decided to go after … Microsoft?

No.

This is the dumbest decision in the history of decisions. It’s like closing the door of a barn after the horses have escaped from a different barn. It also shows the limits of politics, because it is very clear that our government, and other governments, do need to be more involved in preventing abuses, but they needed to do this years ago, and to take on different companies.

Microsoft does not have a monopoly in videogames. Is, in fact, a distant number three in the console market, has some negligible share of the PC gaming market, and has literally no presence at all in mobile gaming. Were regulators around the globe willing to simply let Microsoft spend an astonishing $69 billion to acquire a company that, let’s not forget, was a notable wasteland of employee abuses and toxic male behavior, what would be the result? It would still be a distant number three in consoles, it would be one of many players in PC gaming, and it would be one of many players in mobile gaming.

What would be the outcome for gamers? Activision Blizzard games would be more accessible, with more choices for how and where to play them, including playing PC games on mobile.

What would be the outcome for Sony, the only major industry player to complain about this deal? Absolutely nothing: Activision Blizzard games would continue to appear on PlayStation, which would remain in a dominant lead over Xbox.

Here’s the issue. As noted, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta are right now literally abusing their respective monopolies. OK, you don’t believe they have “monopolies” because we have to quibble over semantics. Whatever: Right now, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta are right now literally abusing their respective dominant positions in various markets. Is everyone on board with that one? I don't care. It's true.

Here’s the FTC worry. Microsoft, once it finally has a viable videogame platform---not a dominant one, mind you, just a viable one---might cause harm. Could be in a position to cause harm.

Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta are causing harm. But the FTC is worried about an imagined future in which Microsoft might cause harm.

F#&k off, FTC. That is ridiculous. And while we’re at it, how about doing your f#&king job and going after the dominant Big Tech companies that are abusing competitors and customers right now and have been doing so for years?

Also, if you want to go after Microsoft, how about looking at Microsoft 365 and Teams? If Microsoft is abusing a dominant market position anywhere---and I’m not saying it is---this is pretty much the only market in which that could be true. Could be true.

We know how much you like imaginary abuse, after all.