FTC Moving Ahead With In-House Trial Against Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

After previously withdrawing the same, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it will move forward with its in-house trial against Microsoft regarding the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This is after failing to file an injunction to halt the same and its appeal for the case being denied.

FTC spokesperson Victoria Bloomberg told Bloomberg, “The FTC continues to believe this deal is a threat to competition.” While its “current focus is on the federal appeal process,” the issue will remain on the FTC’s calendar. The in-house hearing will take place 21 days following the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals providing their opinion.

In response to the FTC’s move, Microsoft spokesperson Rebecca Dougherty said, “We still anticipate that we will close the transaction by October 18, and we have full confidence in our case and the deal’s benefits to gamers and competition.” Activision spokesperson Joseph Christinat added, “We’re focused on working with Microsoft toward closing. How the FTC uses limited taxpayer dollars is its decision.”

The only other major hurdle to the deal, the Competition Markets Authority in the United Kingdom, provisionally approved the acquisition recently. It should lead to the acquisition finally being approved, but time will tell. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime, and check out some of the biggest reveals from the trial here.