The FTC has lost its final attempt at blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision. Last year, Microsoft announced it was making a bid to purchase Activision for just under $70 billion. It’s the biggest acquisition in the history of gaming and would give Microsoft control over one of, if not the biggest franchise in gaming: Call of Duty. It’s a historic deal that grants Microsoft a lot of power which naturally attracted the scrutiny of regulators, politicians, Sony, and even gamers. It has been a heck of a roller coaster that has revealed a ton of behind-the-scenes information about these two companies and more. In order to make the deal seem more appealing, Xbox has even promised to make Call of Duty available on more platforms than ever before such as Nintendo while also keeping the legendary series available on PlayStation.
With that said, the FTC moved to block the deal via a lawsuit at the end of last year. A hearing that concluded in June ruled in favor of Microsoft, but the FTC made one last hail marry attempt to try and block the deal via an appeal on the verdict. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the FTC’s request and now, Microsoft will be able to close the deal after tonight at 11:59 PM PT. It’s unlikely this will happen this weekend, but it could happen next week. However, there are some pretty complicated matters happening in the UK as the CMA is the last regulator holding up the deal. Microsoft can close the deal in the US, but the UK may complicate things.
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The UK is worried about Microsoft’s hold on the cloud gaming sector, but rumors indicate Microsoft may make an effort to sell off its cloud gaming rights to other companies in the UK to push the deal forward. Microsoft and the CMA are actively working to try and come up with a compromise at the moment. Only time will tell what comes of this, but it should keep things interesting for a little while longer.
