The software giant Microsoft is allowed to take over the “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush” developer Activision Blizzard. The US antitrust authorities are now giving the green light for the mega deal in the video game industry.
After around a year and a half, Microsoft has reached its goal of acquiring Activision Blizzard in the USA. After two defeats in court, the US antitrust authority FTC withdrew its lawsuit against the 69 billion dollar deal in the video games industry.
Courts deny FTC motions and appeal
The FTC had previously feared that competition would be adversely affected. However, because Microsoft concluded long-term license agreements for the Activision classic game “Call of Duty” with competitors such as Sony and Nintendo, the courts did not follow this argument and rejected the authority’s application to block the takeover until the start of the main proceedings. This should have started on August 2nd.
Last week, the US antitrust authorities also failed in their attempt to have the merger blocked by an injunction until the main proceedings were opened. The court also declined an appeal against this decision.
Great Britain competition guardian still have concerns
Now the UK remains the only major market where Microsoft has yet to get the green light to acquire Activision. After the setbacks for the FTC in the past week, however, the agency had signaled that it wanted to reconsider its previous decision if the companies made additional concessions. These would have to “remove our concerns completely and comprehensively”.
Microsoft actually wanted to complete the purchase of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion by July 19, 2023, but according to media reports, the two companies have agreed on a new schedule. The deal should now be completed by October 18, 2023 – wrote Xbox boss Phil Spencer on Twitter, among others. If a contractual partner changes his mind beforehand, contractual penalties will be due.