Not surprised as they believe Sony's hysteria, but it'll pass eventually. Microsoft will have a tough trial but ultimately have to make legal binding contracts instead of promises.
The United States District Court in the Northern District of California has rejected the Federal Trade Commission's request for a preliminary injunction to hold off Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The FTC sought extra time to complete its administrative review of the deal before it was consummated.This redacted court order explains why the judge did not grant this injunction. Lawyers love their words, so this runs over 50 pages that boil down to this.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services.
This Court’s responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted—perhaps even terminated—pending resolution of the FTC administrative action. For the reasons explained, the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED.
Reuters reports that having finally cleared all the necessary regulatory hurdles, Microsoft's $69 billion merger with Activision Blizzard is now officially complete. It remains to be seen what this means to gamers, but for now, the focus is how this is good news for Microsoft.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick tells staff he will remain with the company through the end of this year. Eurogamer notes the move has drawn praise from the Communication Workers of America union.
There's a post about this from Phil Spenser on Xbox Wire talking about how such a major publisher falling under the control of one platform is about gaming for everyone.
It's bizarre how Sony achieved gain one year or two. If really there's no black deals under the table then it's showing more the level of incompetency of judges in knowing understand a domain.That's been a difficult birth.