FTC vs. the Microsoft-Activision deal: What you really need to know

polygon.com:

The fate of Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision — one of the first and oldest third-party publishers in console video gaming — now rests in the hands of a single person. The companies and the Federal Trade Commission spent a week in federal court over the latter’s request that a judge put a stop to the deal.

Testimony and closing arguments are now done. Since last Thursday, longtime fans of both Xbox and PlayStation have gotten glimpses of the fast-paced, hardball business world of platform holders and major publishers in video gaming. What happens now could not only be an historic moment in video gaming, it could shape how millions play them for years to come.

Here’s what you really need to know about the past week, where matters are headed, and whether this megadeal will go through.

The judge in the Federal Trade Commission’s case against Microsoft over its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is expected to rule before July 18 whether to block the deal. That’s the closing date for the proposed buyout of the publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch.

The Federal Trade Commission already filed a lawsuit in December to block the deal. This hearing regards the government’s request for a restraining order stopping all merger activity and preventing it from closing. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley granted that temporarily on June 13; her next choice is whether to make that permanent.

The restraining order would stop the deal until the FTC’s overall lawsuit against the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal is resolved.

The acquisition would go forward, and the deal would become a lot harder for the FTC to unwind. The FTC would have to consider whether it would be worth the effort, as a ruling denying