For at behage lovgivere under de høringer, der skulle afgøre om hvorvidt Microsoft kunne få lov til at købe Activision Blizzard, så slog diverse Xbox-topfolk i flere omgange fast, at Microsoft og Activision Blizzard ville forblive separate virksomheder.
Men kort efter overtagelsen afslørede de så, at de havde en intention om at fyre over 1900 ansatte tværs over både Xbox-divisionen men også Activision Blizzard. Mange spekulerede om hvorvidt dette ikke skyldes et overlap mellem ansattes funktioner i de to entiteter.
Men nu siger FTC at dette står i ret skarp kontrast til hele ideen om at virksomhederne er separate, der har de slået fast overfor The Verge.
"Microsoft's recently-reported plan to eliminate 1,900 jobs in its video game division, including in its newly-acquired Activision unit, contradicts the foregoing representations it made to this Court. Specifically, Microsoft reportedly has stated that the layoffs were part of an "execution plan" that would reduce "areas of overlap" between Microsoft and Activision which is inconsistent with Microsoft's suggestion to this Court that the two companies will operate independently post-merger."
Microsoft har endnu ikke responderet på anklagen, men FTC kører fortsat en appel imod beslutningen om at lade de to virksomheder smelte sammen.