Microsoft receives approval from the US Federal Trade Commission to continue the acquisition of Activision Blizzard
It looks like Microsoft is on a roll, as a California court has allowed it to proceed with its acquisition of Activision Blizzard after five days of gruelling testimony. Despite the long-running antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Microsoft, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley decided to reject the regulator's request for a temporary restraining order.
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Judge Corley's decision clearly indicates support for Microsoft in terms of its commitment to the availability of Call of Duty on PlayStation and possible expansion to the Nintendo Switch platform. Despite the fact that the FTC challenged the agreement between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, Judge Corley took their arguments into account when making her decision. The court's decision recognises that the Nintendo Switch belongs to the game console market, although the FTC has grounds to argue otherwise. Judge Corley also upheld the FTC's argument that the console market does not include personal computers (logical, right?).
Our statement on today's decision: pic.twitter.com/jRDD8PhBeT
- Brad Smith (@BradSmi) 11 July 2023
In a statement following Judge Corley's ruling, Microsoft President Brad Smith thanked the San Francisco court for its quick and thoughtful decision and expressed hope that other jurisdictions would also quickly make a decision on this issue.
Activision Blizzard also reacted to the court's decision: the company's CEO, Bobby Kotick, said that their merger would benefit both consumers and employees, promote competition and prevent the dominant market leaders from continuing to control a rapidly growing industry.
FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said in a statement that the FTC plans to continue to fight to preserve competition and protect consumers despite the court's decision. He expressed disappointment that the merger could have a negative impact on competition in the cloud gaming, subscription and console industries.
The judge's ruling allows Microsoft to complete the deal with Activision Blizzard before the 18 July deadline, but only if Microsoft agrees to restrictions in the UK or if the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) finds some form of legal protection. The decision of the UK regulator that blocked the acquisition of Microsoft in April is currently being appealed, with a hearing scheduled for 28 July.
Source: The Verge
