Microsoft Tells Court It Could Walk Away From $70 Billion Activision Blizzard Deal If Delayed

Microsoft is threatening to back away from its nearly $70 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard if a request for injunction by the Federal Trade Commission on anti-competitive is granted.

The lead lawyer for Microsoft, Beth Wilkinson, told a federal judge that if the proposed injunction was granted, it "is going to decide whether the deal goes forward," The New York Times reported.

This would lead to an apparent "three-year administrative nightmare" for the tech giant.

Microsoft sees big upsides in acquiring the Call of Duty creator Activision Blizzard, which made $27 billion alone from the well known series.

The FTC has argued that the acquisition would give Microsoft an unfair monopoly over the cloud gaming space.

Microsoft claims Sony, one of its biggest competitors which fears losing access to Call of Duty if the deal goes through, is the "complainer in chief" in the suit.

Microsoft said it would be "nonsensical" to take Call of Duty off other gaming platforms, as it would lose the company huge amounts of money, reportedly showing an email from Jim Ryan, chief executive, saying he didn't actually think the game would be withheld.

Thursday marked the first day of hearings on the Federal Trade Commission's challenge of the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal.