Read Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s memo to Microsoft employees about the FTC win

theverge.com:

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

Microsoft just won a big legal fight with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to allow it to close its $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. After a grueling five days of evidence and testimony, a US federal judge has sided with Microsoft to prevent the FTC from securing a preliminary injunction to halt Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard.

The hearing involved key Xbox executives, including Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. The Xbox chief has written to Microsoft employees about today’s FTC result, noting that the company’s focus is now on resolving the situation with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Both Microsoft and the CMA have agreed to pause their legal battle to negotiate a potential remedy after the CMA initially blocked the deal over cloud gaming concerns earlier this year. Here’s Phil Spencer’s memo in full:

Today a US District Court judge issued a decision denying the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction, which would have temporarily blocked our acquisition of Activision Blizzard from closing in the United States. We’re grateful that, upon a review of the evidence and witness testimony, the Court rejected the FTC’s claims that our acquisition would harm consumers. The evidence showed the deal is good for the industry and that the FTC’s claims about console switching, multi-game subscription services, and the cloud do not reflect the realities of the gaming market.

After today’s decision, we are turning our focus to the UK. As you may be aware, a few months ago, the UK Competition