Microsoft Wins In FTC Case Over Activision Blizzard Acquisition

Microsoft has won its court case against the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allowing for the company to acquire Activision Blizzard also leading UK negotiations to restart after the initial rejection.

Microsoft Activision Takeover Clear In The US

As shared by Eurogamer, the FTC has cleared the path for Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard, best known for the Call of Duty games. The deal was questioned by the FTC and other market authorities on the basis of competition mostly against Xbox rival PlayStation with the claim that Microsoft could take Call of Duty away from the opposing console. In court, the FTC was unable to prove this claim as having any likelihood behind it with Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley stating “There are no internal documents, emails, or chats contradicting Microsoft’s stated intent not to make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox consoles,”. In the end it was ruled that the deal would be negative for Sony, who have an exclusive marketing deal with Call of Duty, however would be good for Call of Duty gamers as a whole and future gamers.

Cloud Gaming Concerns

The other concern of this acquisition was cloud gaming which caused the UK CMA to reject the deal over concerns it would lead to less competition in the cloud gaming field. Going entirely against the UK’s decision, Judge Corley was convinced that this deal would not create less competition in cloud gaming. The argument was summarised by Activision content not being available on streaming services before the merger but will be following the merger providing a better outcome for gamers.

Microsoft To Reopen Negotiations With The UK

With the FTC not seeing the concern of cloud gaming competition, Microsoft has seen the perfect tool to return to the UK’s CMA to reverse their decision. Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, gave Eurogamer a statement outlining their plans to open up negotiations with the CMA. “After today’s court decision in the US, our focus now turns back to the UK, While we ultimately disagree with the CMA’s concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA.” Activision and Microsoft have previously said they would “work aggressively” to get the CMA’s decision reversed and considering its the only market to have refused the deal, that task may become a lot easier from today. This long-standing deal is getting ever so closer to finally being done, until Microsoft decides to acquire another big developer and starts it all over again.