ANALYSIS: Microsoft Wants to ‘Litigate the Fix'—That’s Smart

Microsoft Corp.'s proposed $69 billion purchase of video-game giant Activision-Blizzard Inc. faces a number of competition challenges worldwide, including by the Federal Trade Commission. But the FTC’s case against the merger in the US likely isn’t the one that will scuttle the deal.

This merger is between a game developer and a game platform—it’s a vertical deal—and US courts have proven very reluctant to block vertical deals. But furthermore, Microsoft is preparing to use a strategy that has recently been very successful against US antitrust enforcement actions: litigating the fix.

When merging parties propose a remedy to the ...