FTC appeals U.S. court decision that cleared Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard

Earlier this week, Microsoft’s long-standing court case with the FTC over the Activision Blizzard acquisition came to a close in the U.S.

According to Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, FTC failed to make a case for how Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard would stifle competition.

However, despite the loss, the FTC is not giving up on its attempt to block the acquisition. It has filed an appeal against Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s decision.

The FTC has argued that the merger would harm competition in the video game industry. It claims that if the acquisition goes through, Microsoft will have the ability to favour its own Xbox Cloud Gaming service over rival platforms, and to restrict access to popular Activision Blizzard titles like Call of Duty. However, Microsoft has shown that this is not the case. Microsoft has signed agreements with the likes of Nintendo and Nvidia to bring Call of Duty games to other platforms for ten years should the purchase be approved.

Sony, however, has been trying to block the deal by arguing that Call of Duty is a massive part of the PlayStation ecosystem and, therefore, Microsoft should not be permitted to own it. Microsoft has offered a similar 10-year deal to Sony, but PlayStation boss Jim Ryan admitted that it wasn’t satisfactory and continued to push to block the deal.

The FTC’s appeal will be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but it is unclear when that will happen.

“The District Court’s ruling makes crystal clear that this acquisition is good for both competition and consumers,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair and president, in a statement given to The Verge. “We’re disappointed that the FTC is continuing to pursue what has become a demonstrably weak case, and we will oppose further efforts to delay the ability to move forward.”

Meanwhile, Microsoft still has to climb another regulatory hurdle in the UK, where the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also raised concerns about the impact of the acquisition. Following the U.S. ruling, Microsoft and the U.K.’s  CMA have agreed to pause their legal battle to further negotiate. Microsoft was set to appeal the CMA’s decision in a hearing scheduled for July 28th. Now, Microsoft says it will work with the CMA to better address its cloud gaming concerns.

Including the U.S., the deal has been cleared by 38 other countries around the world.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Via: The Verge