The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially lost its appeal to have Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard overturned, per Reuters, with the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals ruling the original judgement for the deal was fair, and will remain in place.
Microsoft legally acquired Activision Blizzard way back in October 2023, with the deal closing, despite the FTC’s concerns. The organisation had initially filed to block the USD $68.7 billion deal, but this was later overturned as the courts found no justification for accusations of anti-competitiveness.
A preliminary injunction against the deal’s closure was requested, but rejected, allowing the deal to go ahead as intended. Not content with this outcome, the FTC had filed an appeal to overturn the ruling, with this proceeding in court despite Microsoft and Activision Blizzard initiating acquisition proceedings (including staff layoffs).
This appeal has now been formally rejected by a three-judge panel, who unanimously outlined that the correct legal standards had been applied to the case, and that the FTC’s appeal did not have stable legal grounds to proceed.
Read: FTC proceeds with challenge to Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard
It’s worth noting this judgement was preceded by years of analyses within multiple international courts. In 2022 and 2023, the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard was one of the biggest stories in the world of gaming.
Nearly every country passed judgement on the acquisition, providing their perspective in a variety of court trials aiming to address whether Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard would actually be anti-competitive. In some countries, approval was only passed with caveats. For example, in the United Kingdom, Microsoft was required to give the cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard’s most popular games to Ubisoft, to break up its power.
Eventually, these courts decided the Microsoft acquisition would be allowed to go ahead. With so many parties agreeing, after the concerns over competition were so thoroughly investigated, it appears there’s now nothing more to say.
As the judges ruled, the FTC was not likely to succeed in its appeal, as it could not meaningfully prove the deal would erode competition in the market. With this appeal now sunk, it appears Microsoft’s long-running court battle has definitively concluded.
