The appeal filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prevent the acquisition of Activision Blizzard byMicrosoftwas denied by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This is the second loss for the FTC, which previously saw its request for a preliminary injunction againstMicrosoftdenied by US federal judge Jacqueline Scott Corley.
On January 2022, Microsoft announced the largest acquisition in gaming history, with its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion. Once this deal is closed, all games from Activision, Blizzard, and King would fall under the Xbox Game Studios division, adding various popular IPs and franchises to Microsoft’s lineup ranging fromCall of DutytoDiabloandCandy Crush Saga. Due to the massive size of this acquisition, the deal had to be reviewed by various government antitrust commissions. While several countries gave their green light for this acquisition, two tried to shut down the deal: the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority was opposed to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and theU.S. Federal Trade Commission requested a preliminary injunctionto block the merger.
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The legal battle between the FTC and Microsoft regarding the acquisition of Activision Blizzard might finally come to an end soon, as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied theFTC’s request to halt Microsoft’s $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. According to Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, Microsoft has committed in writing to keepCall of Dutyon PlayStation for 10 years and port the game to Nintendo Switch, and will bring various Activision games to cloud gaming services. Since Microsoft doesn’t seem to pose a threat to its competitors, the Court doesn’t have any reason to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
This decision means that Microsoft is now free to complete its deal with Activision Blizzard. The two companies have until July 18 to close this unprecedented deal, otherwise, they may need to negotiate the merger’s terms. With theFTC losing the legal battle against Microsoft, only one authority remains in the way of the Activision Blizzard merger: the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The CMA fears the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft could pose a threat to its competitors, especially in the cloud gaming market. TheCMA and Microsoft are currently looking for ways to appease these antitrust concernsand modify the deal’s terms to ensure there is no threat to the overall balance of the gaming industry.
