Posted in: Activision, Blizzard, Games, Microsoft, Video Games | Tagged: activision blizzard, FTC

The FTC Is Taking One Last Shot At Activision Blizzard Acquisition

The FTC has decided it just can't let go, and will be filing one last motion to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Published Thu, 28 Sep 2023 19:44:08 -0500

by Gavin Sheehan

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It appears the Federal Trade Commission isn't done with Microsoft, as the organization is taking one last shot at the Activision Blizzard acquisition. After losing its legal case to halt the merger the first time around, the FTC will be trying one last ditch effort to prevent it from happening, despite having approval from practically every other market around the world. The organization filed a new Order Returning Matter To Adjudication, as BNN Bloomberg reports they are trying to move the matter to be an in-house trial. Despite the result of the court hearing in San Francisco back in July, the FTC still believes the merger will be a "threat to competition," and wish to hold their own hearing over the matter.

Xbox and Activision Blizzard, photo by Miguel Lagoa / Shutterstock.com.

The big issue at hand is that the move may not even be possible to stop the merger from happening, as it is set to take effect on October 18, 2023. However, it has been noted that while the FTC usually drops the matter after they lose cases at the federal level, there are a handful of circumstances in which they have continued to pursue it after an acquisition has taken place in an attempt to undo it and force the companies to separate once more.

While the FTC does still have sound arguments when it comes to the acquisition, this move does kind of come off as petty on their part. The entire matter went to court in front of an impartial judge; we got some interesting insights into what Xbox and Bethesda think of the industry and their competitors, a view of what little the FTC actually knows about the industry as a whole, a few jokes about how no one truly cares about industry terms like Gen9, and an eventual decision was made in Microsoft's favor. Now we're at a point where it feels like the FTC wants one more shot on their home turf. We'll see what comes of the filing, but regardless, the merger will start in just a couple of weeks.

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