Following the court's decision to allow the sale, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is now planning to appeal the court's decision regarding the Microsoft – Activision Blizzard deal.
FTC is appealing Judge Corley's ruling in the Microsoft Activision acquisition case
Looks like this isn’t over 🧐 pic.twitter.com/getQ7d91Np
— Hunter 🎮 (@NextGenPlayer) July 12, 2023
The two-page document, which became available earlier today, stated that the Plaintiff (FTC) was appealing to the United States Court of Appeals:
Notice is hereby given that Plaintiff Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) appeals to the United
States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from this Court’s Opinion dated July 10, 2023 and entered
on the Court’s docket on July 11, 2023 at ECF Docket Number 305 denying the FTC’s request for a
preliminary injunction pursuant to Federal Trade Commission Act § 13(b), 15 U.S.C. 53(b).
Other than this paragraph, there was nothing else on the document.
This appeal after the historic trial that recently finished. After listening to both sides of the argument, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled to deny the preliminary injunction that the FTC wanted. According to her, “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.”
We don't have any information yet as to just what the FTC will present or argue in this appeal. We will have to wait until the appeal gets submitted.
It has been over a year and a half since Microsoft first announced its intent to buy Activision Blizzard. The deal, worth $69 billion, is the biggest in gaming history. Sony has been fighting against the acquisition at every step. They stated that Microsoft could potentially make the various IPs under Activision Blizzard exclusives, removing PlayStation's access to them. This includes games like Call of Duty. Microsoft, on the other hand, has been making deals with various companies for Call of Duty, including Nintendo, assuring them that Call of Duty will still be available on their hardware. Sony, who also received an offer, refused it.
Since then various governing bodies have looked into the deal. The UK's CMA and the EU Commission, alongside the FTC, all voiced their concerns regarding the deal. The UK CMA didn't want the deal to go through because of their concerns regarding Cloud gaming. The EU Commission, on the other hand, had the same concerns but decided to approve the deal. The biggest wall left to the deal was the FTC's lawsuit which, as well know, did not really work out so well.
This story is still developing. As such, we don't have all of the information yet. Should more information become available, we will be sure to let you know.
That's all the information we have regarding the FTC's appeal on the court's decision about the Microsoft – Activision Blizzard deal. Check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.
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