Microsoft Xbox Wins Court Case Against FCT For Activision Blizzard Acquisition

Microsoft Xbox has officially won the court case against the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Californian Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley gave her ruling, which was submitted earlier today (via The Verge):

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. 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.

This Court’s responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted—perhaps even terminated—pending resolution of the FTC administrative action. For the reasons explained, 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. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED.

In a statement following Judge Corley’s decision, Microsoft president Brad Smith gave the following official statement:

Our statement on today's decision: pic.twitter.com/jRDD8PhBeT

— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) July 11, 2023

What this all means is that Microsoft Xbox can now technically close its Activision Blizzard deal ahead of the upcoming 18 July 2023 deadline. However, several other parties are still opposed to the acquisition, including the UK and the Competition And Markets Authority (CMA).

In other related news to come out of the Microsoft Xbox FTC trial, it was revealed that the upcoming Bethesda MachineGames Indiana Jones game will be an Xbox exclusive and that Starfield was originally planned for the PS5 before Microsoft purchased Bethesda. Microsoft also expects that the next-gen consoles will arrive in 2028 and that the PS5 Slim/Pro is slated to release sometime later this year.