In a defining moment in the gaming industry’s history, Microsoft has won it’s case against the FTC on its right to acquire Activision-Blizzard.
In her ruling on denying the injunction sought by the FTC, Judge Corley ruled that “The FTC has not shown it is likely to succeed on its assertion the combined firm will probably pull Call of Duty from Sony PlayStation, or that its ownership of Activision content will substantially lessen competition in the video game library subscription and cloud gaming markets.”
Head of Xbox and the CEO of Gaming for Microsoft, Phil Spencer, offered the following statement:
1/We're grateful to the court for swiftly deciding in our favor. The evidence showed the Activision Blizzard deal is good for the industry and the FTC’s claims about console switching, multi-game subscription services, and cloud don’t reflect the realities of the gaming market.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 11, 2023
3/We know that players around the world have been watching this case closely and I’m proud of our efforts to expand player access and choice throughout this journey. END
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 11, 2023
The focus will now shift back to the United Kingdom which Vice Chair and President at Microsoft, Brad Smith, offered a statement on this morning after the FTC decision.
We’ll have a lot more on the ruling and its potential downstream effects later this week on both Cast Co-Op and The Bitcast. Stay tuned!
