You’d be absolutely forgiven in assuming that all of the legal drama surrounding the 2023 Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard was done a while ago. However, just like a Starbucks drive-thru at 8:00 in the morning, parts of it have been dragging through at an agonizing pace, and it’s only now in May 2025 that one of the key players in this saga has lost for good.
The US federal appeals court finally put an end to the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to squash the $68.7 billion merger, ruling against an appeal of an injunction against the initial deal – a deal that was already done and has been done for over a year-and-a-half, mind you. The ruling against the appeal was made “given the FTC’s failure to make an adequate showing as to its likelihood of success on the merits as to any of its theories.”
The FTC’s initial objection over the merger stated, “With control of Activision’s content, Microsoft would have the ability and increased incentive to withhold or degrade Activision’s content in ways that substantially lessen competition — including competition on product quality, price, and innovation.”
The FTC began its campaign to stop the merger in late 2022, asking for an injunction by the summer of the next year. The FTC continued to lose ground to stop the deal in the ensuing months, and while the legal path opened for Microsoft to complete the acquisition, the FTC’s appeal against it dragged on… until now.
