The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s final request to halt Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard, potentially paving the way for the biggest merger ever So far in the game field is finally underway after a legal story that spanned over a year.
FTC already has find a way to keep the acquisition going on the July 18 deadline while appealing the ruling from the Northern District of California sided with Microsoft. It’s the antitrust agency’s last chance to stop a historic $69 billion merger that will see major game franchises like call of duty, World of WarcraftAnd crushed candy all become an extension of Xbox.
Regulators argued that the federal court ignored evidence that Microsoft would have a reasonable incentive to potentially make those franchises exclusives to cloud gaming platforms. cloud and its dashboard to manipulate the market. Microsoft’s turn blame the FTC for using delay tactics and sold off a hefty $3 billion breakup fee that Microsoft would have to pay Activision if the deal didn’t go through for some reason.
The ninth round will still process that appeal, but reject the movement of the FTC to block the merger until that ruling is made, giving Microsoft the green light to close the deal on July 17.
It has been a long journey so far, full of twists and turns, including abroad in the UK, the only country blocking the deal so far. That country’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rejected the merger on the grounds that it would give Microsoft too much of an edge in the nascent cloud gaming market.
However, after the FTC’s first court defeat earlier this week, the CMA announced that it is back to negotiating with Microsoft about new ways to resolve antitrust conflicts. It has now extended its deadline to approve the deal in August, indicating it is ready to accept the tech giant’s latest concessions.
While nothing is final until it is, it looks like Microsoft’s shocking acquisition of one of the world’s largest game publishers is about to become a reality and will soon be. has the potential to completely reshape the video game landscape in the process. Or maybe Xbox owners will get more free games on Game Pass. Time will answer.
