Microsoft and the FTC face a dispute over their acquisition of Activision BlizzardWhether it involves market monopoly, each party has its own opinionLater, the U.S. Federal Court in San Francisco ruled earlier that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission failed to prove that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard would create a market monopoly, and therefore rejected the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's recent application for an injunction to block Microsoft's transaction.
In its ruling, the court held that the testimony highlighted that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard would make it easier for consumers to access Activision Blizzard-published game content, including Call of Duty, including Microsoft's commitment to provide games fairly to industry players such as NVIDIA and Nintendo for at least the next 10 years, and that Microsoft would also make gaming content easily accessible to more consumers through its game subscription service, Xbox Game Pass.
After the relevant ban was lifted, it means that Microsoft will successfully complete the acquisition of Activision Blizzard in the US market. Both Microsoft President Brad Smith and Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick expressed their gratitude for the ruling made by the US Federal Court in San Francisco, and expected that this transaction will bring greater market win-win benefits.
However, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission believes that this ruling will cause an imbalance in competition in the cloud gaming, subscription service and game console markets. It also stated that it will continue to take follow-up actions to protect consumer rights and may appeal to the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit again before the deadline of July 7 when Microsoft must complete its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
On the other hand, Microsoft also reached an agreement with the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The two parties will suspend the lawsuit regarding the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and plan to resolve the UK Competition and Markets Authority's concerns about the transaction through discussions.
As for regulatory agencies in countries and regions including China, South Korea, and Japan, they have all unconditionally approved Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Even the EU regulators, who initially had objections to the deal, subsequently agreed to Microsoft's transaction.
