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Federal Court upholds Microsoft’s Activision-Blizzard deal against FTC's challenge

Microsoft completed its monumental $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard on October 13, 2023. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission attempted to block the deal in June 2023, but a U.S. Court allowed the deal to be completed.

The FTC believed that such an acquisition would restrict competition in the video gaming market, as it could give Xbox an unfair advandtage due to the popularity of games like Call of Duty,  and that this could affect the quality, price and innovation among game developers and studios. A year and a half after the acquisition went through, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has delivered a decisive blow by rejecting the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction against a ruling by a U.S. district court. The appeals court also stated that the "correct legal standard" had been applied by the lower court when it refused to accept the agency's request to prevent the merger.

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard also faced some challenges around the globe. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Commission had cleared the deal, and it was eventually completed.

But, as PC Gamer reports, the FTC still aims to thwart the already-done deal, despite having failed to block it multiple times. The appeals court panel, comprising three judges, pointed out that "given the FTC’s failure to make an adequate showing as to its likelihood of success on the merits as to any of its theories, the district court properly denied the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction on that basis". According to the FTC, “the subject of an administrative proceeding that remains pending before the FTC,”.

The Verge reports that both the FTC and Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.

Though some gamers found the news amusing, some people pointed out that Microsoft has been releasing games on other platforms, including PlayStation 5, and that this was only became a reality because concerns were that the acquisition would be anticompetitive.

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