FTC loses bid to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which already happened in 2023

More than a year after Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of videogame behemoth Activision Blizzard was successfully completed, the US Federal Trade Commission’s effort to block it has run aground. A federal appeals court has rejected the FTC’s appeal of a ruling that denied its request for a preliminary injunction against the deal, saying the lower court applied the “correct legal standard” and that the FTC has not demonstrated that it was likely to win its case.

If this all seems a bit of a “delayed reaction,” well, you’re not wrong, but such is the way the system works. The short version is that as part of its battle against the acquisition, the FTC requested a preliminary injunction against it in June 2023, which would put the deal on hold until the FTC’s entire case was heard, ruled on, and then appealed to whatever extent possible—a process that would not likely be wrapped up in short order.

The court denied the request, however, which effectively meant the deal could move ahead even though the FTC was still pursuing its case against it. And move ahead it did: A few months later, Microsoft convinced the UK’s Competition and Market Authority that the acquisition was a good idea and then immediately mashed the big red button, officially making Activision Blizzard a Microsoft company.

That didn’t bring an end to the FTC’s appeal, though, and it remained active until today’s ruling, which declared that the lower court got it right when it rejected the request for a preliminary injunction blocking the deal.

Technically, at least, this does not actually signal the end of the matter. The full ruling, available from The Verge, notes that “the merger is the subject of an administrative proceeding that remains pending before the FTC.” Given the repeat losses in its request for a preliminary injunction, though, not to mention the fact that the deal is already done, I suspect the FTC will ultimately content itself with an “I warned you, bro,” and move on to other things.

Microsoft declined to comment on the ruling, while the FTC is thus far just ignoring me outright.