While Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has grabbed all of the headlines today, the FTC quietly began its initial probe of Meta’s $400M deal for VR company Supernatural.
The juxtaposition of Meta’s $400M FTC acquisition probe against the backdrop of Microsoft’s $70B Activision purchase should not be lost on shareholders, gaming fans or competition as the latter will be soon be in the same position.
According to a Reuters report, Meta is awaiting the results of the probe to finalize on the deal it announced back in November of 2021 with the fitness-focused VR platform Supernatural.
FTC Chair Lina Khan has made it part of her mandate to ensure big tech players leave a floor for fair competition and will presumably comb over the details of the deal as well as is it impact on the larger virtual reality market Meta (formerly Facebook) is quickly engulfing.
Last week we reported on the year-long brain drain Microsoft has been experiencing in its HoloLens division with roughly 70 of its 100 employees who left, finding new homes at Meta.
Meta will need to walk a convincing line with the Khan led FTC as it looks to be the first to dominate the VR and AR heavy metaverse it’s envisioned for itself.
Interestingly enough, with Microsoft buying Activision for $70B it has become the third largest gaming company in the world and could theoretically become the largest contributor to Meta’s VR and AAR gaming efforts, barring its own future FTC review.
As of now, neither the FTC or Meta have provided comment on the news of the initial investigation.
