FTC drops case against Activision Blizzard takeover

Regulator says pursuing case "not in the public interest"

Trade

Image: Ekaterina-Bolovtsova via Pexels

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has dropped its case against Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The regulator stated that continuing the legal battle against this deal completed in 2023 would not be in the public interest.

This decision follows a series of legal setbacks for the FTC. On 7 May the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the FTC’s appeal of an earlier ruling allowing the takeover. The court ruled that the FTC had not presented sufficient evidence that the merger would significantly harm competition.

The acquisition of Activision Blizzard, known for popular games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush, is the largest in the history of the game industry. The FTC was concerned that this acquisition could put Microsoft at a disadvantage to competitors within the Xbox console market and the cloud gaming sector.

Under the new chairmanship of Andrew Ferguson, the FTC has shifted its focus to issues more in line with President Donald Trump’s pro-business policies. For example, the commission is currently investigating whether advertisers colluded to spend less on X (formerly Twitter) and has dropped a previous case against PepsiCo over price discrimination in favour of Walmart.

Emerce

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