Judge Rules in Favor of Microsoft to Complete the Buyout of Activision Blizzard

The world of gaming will change forever as a decision has been reached between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Microsoft. The FDC brought these charges to the court to stop Microsoft’s buyout of Activision Blizzard, but Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has ruled in favor of Microsoft.

In a statement from the court, “The FTC has not shown it is likely to succeed on its assertion the combined firm will probably pull Call of Duty from Sony PlayStation, or that its ownership of Activision content will substantially lessen competition in the video game library subscription and cloud gaming markets,”

IGN shared a statement from FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar saying, “We are disappointed in this outcome given the clear threat this merger poses to open competition in cloud gaming, subscription services, and consoles. In the coming days, we’ll be announcing our next step to continue our fight to preserve competition and protect consumers.”

Activision Blizzard head Bobby Kotick shared, “Our merger will benefit consumers and workers. It will enable competition rather than allow entrenched market leaders to continue to dominate our rapidly growing industry.”

As for Xbox Head Phil Spencer, a few tweets were shared on the matter, adding, “We’re grateful to the court for swiftly deciding in our favor. The evidence showed the Activision Blizzard deal is good for the industry and the FTC’s claims about console switching, multi-game subscription services, and cloud don’t reflect the realities of the gaming market.”

However, this isn’t over for the company as they still have to meet with the UK’s Competition Markets Authority (CMA), which is also trying to block the buyout. The hearing is set for July 28, and we’ll be sure to cover the verdict.