The FTC Is Still Fighting Microsoft’s Activision Buyout, and It’s Not Going Well

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The tech giant Microsoft purchased gaming publisher Activision Blizzard for a staggering $70 billion in a game-altering deal that was finalized approximately 18 months after undergoing thorough scrutiny in court.

Although numerous regulatory bodies globally supported the agreement, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was among the rare exceptions, even continuing to oppose it now.

Fundamentally, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has consistently opposed this takeover, stating that it could negatively impact competition within the industry.

In the end, the agreement moved forward, but even then, the Federal Trade Commission persistently opposed it. They appealed to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting them to reverse a previous court’s decision not to block the transaction temporarily, which would have put the deal on hold.

As a passionate gamer, I just learned some exciting news about our gaming industry. The 9th Circuit Court recently affirmed an earlier decision, stating that the initial judge correctly applied the necessary legal benchmarks. This means they found no substantial proof suggesting that the Federal Trade Commission’s concerns about this acquisition potentially hurting competition were unfounded.

In other words, the FTC’s appeal was shot down, and nothing’s going to change.

It’s uncertain if the competition authority will persist in examining Microsoft’s takeover, but it appears doubtful based on current circumstances.

Initially, when the news about the deal broke out, there were concerns that Microsoft might make popular franchises like Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox. However, it appears that the situation has taken a turn, as not only are Activision Blizzard games still being released on PlayStation, but also several Xbox Game Studios games have been made available beyond Xbox as well.

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2025-05-08 16:50