The United States' Federal Trade Commission (FTC) might be blocking Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

That's according to Politico, which reports that the organisation is set to file an antitrust lawsuit to block the record-breaking deal. This would be a huge blow to Microsoft after years of unchallenged acquisitions within the video games industry.

It's not certain that the lawsuit will be filed, however. The FTC's four commissioners still need to vote on the complaint, as well as meet with lawyers for both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.

That the FTC might file to block the acquisition isn't surprising. The organisation's chair – Lina Khan – has been in this position since 2021 and previously wrote an essay titled Amazon's Antitrust Paradox. When she was appointed chair of the FTC, Amazon and Facebook tried to get her recused from looking into them, which tells you a lot.

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority has opened up a more detailed investigation into the Activision Blizzard deal. The same is true of the EU.