The news that Microsoft has agreed to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion has concerned public figures and human rights activists. They noted that the deal could exacerbate the problem of discrimination and harassment in the publishing house. Now the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has assured that it is investigating the takeover from this side.

Microsoft continues to meet the unions halfway. This time, the corporation announced that it had agreed on labor neutrality with Communications Workers of America. Their agreement will come into force 60 days after the closing of the transaction for the purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Samsung and Microsoft have strengthened their cooperation in the field of cloud gaming. Microsoft announced that from June 30, the Xbox TV application will work on some Samsung TVs, with which games from the Game Pass can be opened via the cloud.

Microsoft has decided to significantly reduce its presence in Russia, Bloomberg reports, citing a statement from the corporation. She cited “changes in economic prospects” as the reason.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said that the corporation respects the right of employees to organize trade unions. She will not interfere, although they “will never have the need to unite for a dialogue” with the leadership.

The head of Microsoft’s gaming division said this at a general meeting with Xbox Game Studios employees. Spencer added that a year and a half ago (during the previous meeting) he knew little about trade unions, but now he understood the topic well. In his opinion, unionization is one of the rights of employees.

Studio 343 Industries continues to lose developers. Now Jerry Hook has announced his departure.

This became known from the second volume of the book Ultimate History of Video Games, excerpts from which have recently appeared online.

This statement was made by the president of the corporation Brad Smith (Brad Smith) during an interview with the Belgian edition of L’Echo. He said that the deal is already entering the middle phase. But in any case, a lot still needs to be done.

In April, an enthusiast under the nickname foone asked Microsoft to share the sources of 3D Movie Maker, an old program designed to teach children how to make three—dimensional cartoons. He assured the corporation that he wants to expand the project’s capabilities and adapt it to modern devices. As it turned out, Microsoft doesn’t mind at all.

Microsoft is developing a program to add advertising inside free games on Xbox, Business Insider reports. According to the sources of the publication, its release is scheduled for the third quarter of 2022.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren and her colleague Mondar Jones have introduced a bill to ban anti-competitive mergers. If it is accepted, companies will not be able to make transactions more expensive than $5 billion.

Microsoft has announced its plans for Russia. The IT corporation stops “all new sales” in the country. This applies to both its products and services.

A number of human rights organizations have expressed concern about the purchase of Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft plans to make. They demanded that the US Federal Trade Commission carefully study the deal in order to prevent possible consequences for the market. One of the reasons is the direct threat of competition.This is stated in an open letter published on March 1.

Sarah Bond, vice president of the Microsoft gaming ecosystem, hinted at a possible reduction in the commission in the Xbox store. According to her, in the future, a more flexible model may replace the 30% fee, when the commission amount will depend on the store functions used by developers.

Microsoft has published new operating principles for its app store. This is a consequence of the announced deal with Activision Blizzard. The company decided to show regulators its openness and desire to encourage competition. However, so far we are talking only about the PC store.Microsoft announced the changes on February 9 in its official blog.

Several indie developers shared with the BBC their concerns about the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal. They stated that a lot of AAA projects are already included in the Game Pass subscription, and after the purchase of the Call of Duty publisher, there will be even more of them. Because of this, small games can simply go unnoticed by gamers.

After the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, there were predictions that Microsoft’s next step could be the purchase of a conditional Capcom or SEGA. However, analyst Serkan Toto dispelled these myths and explained why the chances of absorbing a Japanese company tend to zero.Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Microsoft has reported on the results of the second fiscal quarter of 2022, which ended on December 31. It also became known how the entire calendar year 2021 passed for the company — it turned out to be a record for the gaming direction.