It looks like Microsoft is hitting a rough patch – The California court allowed her to continue the acquisition process
What is known
Judge Corley's decision clearly indicates supportMicrosoft's commitment to the availability of Call of Duty on the PlayStation and possible expansion to the Nintendo Switch platform. Despite the fact that the FTC appealed the agreement between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, Judge Corley considered their arguments in making her decision. The court decision recognizes that the Nintendo Switch belongs to the game console market, although the FTC has reason to argue otherwise. Judge Corley also supported the FTC in that the console market does not include personal computers (logical, right?).
Our statement on today's decision: pic.twitter.com/jRDD8PhBeT
– Brad Smith (@BradSmi) July 11, 2023
In a statement following Judge Corley's decision, Presidentof Microsoft, Brad Smith expressed his gratitude to the San Francisco court for the prompt and thoughtful decision, and also expressed the hope that other jurisdictions will also quickly decide on this issue.
Activision Blizzard also responded tocourt ruling: The company's CEO, Bobby Kotick, said the combination would benefit both consumers and employees, promote competition, and prevent dominant market leaders from continuing to control a rapidly growing industry.
FTC Representative, Douglas FarrarFarrar, in a statement, said the FTC plans to continue fighting to preserve competition and protect consumer rights despite the court ruling. He expressed disappointment that this combination of companies could negatively impact competition in cloud gaming, service subscriptions and consoles.
The judge's decision allows Microsoftcomplete the deal with Activision Blizzard before the July 18 deadline, but only if Microsoft agrees to restrictions in the UK or if the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) finds some form of remedy. The decision of the British regulator, which blocked the acquisition of Microsoft in April, is still being disputed, and hearings in the case are scheduled for July 28.
