Microsoft has won its US court case to acquire Activision Blizzard
Microsoft has been cleared to acquire Activision Blizzard in the United States after winning its court battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
On Tuesday, judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
Had it been granted, the injunction would have blocked the $69 billion deal from being completed until the US regulator’s in-house court had a chance to rule on whether the merger hurt competition in the game industry.
Jude Corley’s ruling concluded: “Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Dury on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Dury to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services.
“This Court’s responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted perhaps even terminated pending resolution of the FIC administrative action. For the reasons explained, the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED.”
Responding to the news, Microsoft president Brad Smith said: “We’re grateful to the Court in San Francisco for this quick
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