By: Nick Gambino
We’ve been reporting on the ongoing battle between Microsoft and the FTC (as well as Sony and others) over whether the former will be able to purchase Activision Blizzard.
Most recently the FTC was trying to get a preliminary injunction that would prevent Microsoft from completing their acquisition. The judge has now issued her ruling in favor of Microsoft.
“Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny,” the judge’s ruling states. “That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services.”
The FTC’s whole case is predicated on the fact that they think this purchase will result in a monopoly of sorts, lessening competition. The ruling contends that based on Microsoft’s deals with other consoles and cloud gaming services as well as their public statements, this will do the opposite. They are actually expanding the number of platforms that have access to Call of Duty.
For these reasons “the motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED.”
The Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, Brad Smith, issued his own statement shortly after the ruling came down, “We’re grateful to the Court in San Francisco for this quick and thorough decision and hope other jurisdictions will continue working towards a timely resolution. As we’ve demonstrated consistently throughout this process, we are committed to working creatively and collaboratively to address regulatory concerns.”
While there is still an antitrust case on the books from the FTC and a possible appeal on this ruling, this was a big step forward and will allow the $68 billion acquisition to go through on July 18. But that’s just in the US. There’s still an ongoing situation over in the UK.
The EU okayed the acquisition, but the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is putting up a fight. However, the US ruling has helped that skirmish along as the CMA no longer has the FTC as their brother in arms in this fight. The UK watchdog group issued a statement that they are “ready to consider any proposals from Microsoft to restructure the transaction.”
It looks like the battle for Activision Blizzard is coming to a close in the coming weeks. The gaming studio and all their titles, including Call of Duty, will be owned by Microsoft.
