US judge temporarily blocks Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision
On Tuesday night, a US judge agreed to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) request to temporarily block Microsoft Corp’s purchase of video game maker Activision Blizzard and scheduled a hearing for next week.
US District Judge Edward Davila scheduled a two-day evidentiary hearing on the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction for June 22-23 in San Francisco. Microsoft could have finished the $69 billion deal as soon as Friday without a court order.
The FTC requested an administrative judge to stop the transaction in early December. A hearing with evidence in the administrative proceeding is scheduled to start on August 2.
The federal court will determine whether a preliminary injunction, which would last during the administrative review of the case, is needed based on the late-June hearing. The FTC asked for the temporary block on Monday.
Davila said the temporary restraining order issued on Tuesday “is necessary to maintain the status quo while the complaint is pending (and) preserve this court’s ability to order effective relief in the event it determines a preliminary injunction is warranted and preserve the FTC’s ability to obtain an effective permanent remedy in the event that it prevails in its pending administrative proceeding.”
Microsoft and Activision have to give legal reasons against a preliminary injunction by June 16 and the FTC has to respond on June 20.
“Accelerating the legal process in the U.S. will ultimately bring more choice and competition to the gaming market. A temporary restraining order makes sense until we can receive a decision from the court, which is moving swiftly,” Microsoft said.
The FTC has claimed the transaction would give Microsoft’s video game console Xbox exclusive access to Activision games, leaving Nintendo consoles and Sony Group Corp’s PlayStation behind.
Microsoft’s attempt to buy the “Call of Duty” video game maker was approved by the EU in May, but British competition authorities stopped the takeover in April.
Microsoft has said the deal would help gamers and gaming companies alike, and has offered to sign a legally binding consent decree with the FTC to provide “Call of Duty” games to competitors including Sony for a decade.
Meanwhile, Microsoft hosted the Xbox Games Showcase 2023 last night. At the event, the company announced a new Xbox Series S gaming console with 1TB of SSD storage space and a new Carbon Black colour variant and launched Starfield inspired Xbox Wireless Controller – Starfield Limited Edition and the Xbox Wireless Headset – Starfield Limited Edition. The company also announced that it is bringing select PC Game Pass games to Nvidia’s GeForce Now.
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