As many gamers know Microsoft have been battling with the US Federal Trade Commission to gain the ability to acquire Activision Blizzard with a $68.7 Billion deal, and as of July 11th this deal has now been accepted by US District Judge Jaqueline Scott Corley meaning that the FTC will not receive a temporary injunction to prevent the deal from going through.
Related: The PlayStation 5 Slim is Launching Later This Year According to FTC Documents
What does this mean for Microsoft and their deal with Activision Blizzard?
Currently this decision has a lot of impacts in regards to the deal that will be going ahead with Microsoft and Activision Blizzard as it has opened the doors for future discussion, but sadly this isn’t the end of the discussion as the Competition and Market Authority in the UK is still blocking in the deal due to the concerns of Cloud Gaming Systems.
Even though the temporary injunction has been denied there is still a possibility that the FTC can appeal this decision by July 14th, but as of now there has been no information pointing towards them doing so, but this can all change at anytime.
At the moment there is still a lot for Microsoft to work out as they have a deadline of July 18th to close this deal, but with the CMA blocking it Microsoft will need to find a way to go around this so that they do not miss their deadline otherwise they will have to put a delay on this deal which could take them a fair few months, or even move into next year.
Even though this deal has had many bumps in the road Microsoft’s president Brad Smith has made a statement saying that it “hopes other jurisdictions will continue working towards a timely resolution,” and that the company is “committed to working creatively and collaboratively to address regulatory concerns.”.
Related: The FTC Trial Gives Us Yet Another Release Date, This Time for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3!
What affects will this have on the gaming community?
As of now there isn’t much information in regards to what will happen with many of the games that are owned by Activision Blizzard if they get purchased by Microsoft, but the main talking point is about Call Of Duty as Microsoft have already begun to discuss what they will do with Call Of Duty in regards to the future.
So far there has been discussions that Call Of Duty can stay on PlayStation consoles for the next 10 years and that Call Of Duty will be brought over to Nintendo Switch and will stay there for 10 years as well, this is massive news, but with all news it needs to be taken lightly as this can change at any minute as the companies involved can deny this deal.
As far as the FTC is concerned this merger is still a threat to the open competition of things like Consoles, Cloud Gaming and Subscriptions services, but for now they are still planning on whether this is a viable defence to keep the block in the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, until this is decided the deal has been accepted and gamers are waiting very anxiously for the next step in this battle of a acquisition.
What do you think about this decision? Will it be good for the gaming community? Or will it leave Many gamers without games from Activision Blizzard? Let us know in the comments what you think!
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