FTC To Appeal Microsoft-Activision Deal Ruling

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is not ready to admit defeat just yet.

The government agency has filed its appeal to block the court's recent ruling that allows Microsoft to acquire video game developer Activision.

The court recently ruled in favor of Microsoft as it found that Microsoft acquiring Activision won't affect competition negatively, per The Verge.

FTC's Appeal Against Microsoft

The FTC said it recently filed its appeal on Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley's denial of its request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily stop the deal between Microsoft and Activision from going through, per Engadget.

You may recall that The FTC is eager to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision. It believes it would give the former's Xbox platform exclusive access to Activision games, removing the possibility of those games being played on Nintendo and Sony's gaming consoles, per the BBC.

According to Engadget, an administrative trial is set to start in August, though the companies' merger deal has a deadline of July 18, making the FTC concerned that the companies could close the deal despite the UK's regulator also blocking the transaction in its home country.

Regardless, the FTC now needs the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue an emergency stay to extend the existing temporary restraining order set to expire on July 14. Although it's worth noting that it's unclear if the appeals court will even rule before the acquisition deal's deadline in the US, allowing the two companies to close the deal before an emergency stay can be given.

In response, Activision stated that the facts haven't changed about its acquisition deal with Microsoft in a tweet; it's confident the US will remain among the countries where its acquisition deal can close.

"We look forward to reinforcing the strength of our case in court, again," Activision added.

Microsoft, on the other hand, did not take the appeal in stride. Company vice chair and president Brad Smith said Microsoft is disappointed that the FTC still wants to pursue a "demonstrably weak case" to block its merger with Activision.

He also added that Microsoft will oppose further efforts to delay its ability to move forward with its deal.

Court's In Favor

While the FTC is eager to block Microsoft's acquisition of Microsft, Judge Corley isn't. According to the ruling the judge recently gave, the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim that Microsoft's merger with Activision may "substantially lessen competition."

Instead, the evidence presented points to "more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content" - something Microsoft repeatedly promised in its effort to convince regulators to let its merger deal push through.

You may recall that Xbox head Phil Spencer made what seems to be an open-ended promise to PlayStation gamers. He said that "as long as there's a PlayStation out there to ship to, [Microsoft's] intent is that we'd continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation, similar to what [the company's] done with Minecraft since [it's] owned that."

He also cited Microsoft's acquisition of Minecraft and its creator, Mojang Studios, and how it handled the game's accessibility in different platforms as an example.