It is the most spectacular antitrust lawsuit since Joe Biden took office as US President: The competition authority FTC announced on Thursday that it intends to block the takeover of the video game manufacturer Activision by the software company Microsoft, which was agreed in January of this year.
Microsoft plans to pay $69 billion for Activision, which would be by far the company's most expensive acquisition in its history.
Roland Lindner
Business correspondent in New York.
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Activision is one of the largest video game manufacturers in the world and is known for titles such as "Call of Duty", "World of Warcraft" and "Candy Crush".
With control of such titles, Microsoft would have "both the means and the motive to harm competition," and that would be bad for consumers, the FTC argues.
Microsoft was immediately determined to fight the battle with the antitrust authorities, including in court.
Brad Smith, the company's president, said: "We believed in giving peace a chance, but we have complete confidence in our position and look forward to the opportunity to present it in court."
It had been expected from the outset that the mega takeover would face strict antitrust scrutiny.
The EU Commission also announced a thorough examination of the project in November and has given itself until next March to decide on a possible lawsuit.
The FTC is now the first agency to actually file a lawsuit.
She expressed concern that Microsoft could keep Activision separate from rival gaming platforms.
The group has already done this in the past, for example after taking over the games manufacturer Bethesda last year.
It could also otherwise change the terms or prices for competitors' access to Activision games or downgrade the quality of those games for competitors.
Activision has so far offered its titles on various platforms, such as Sony and Nintendo consoles.