The soap opera about Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard’s Kind continues. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lost a legal battle this week, but apparently they believe it may eventually win the war and appealed the trial court’s decision to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The FTC is also likely to ask the court to extend the temporary purchase ban, which expires on Friday, July 14.

The case is on fire and it’s not for less. Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard Kind will (if completed) the largest operation of its kind in video game history. With an estimated value of $69 billion, this could have huge implications for the mainstream entertainment industry, especially if major franchises like Call of Duty become exclusive to Microsoft’s gaming platform.

Microsoft, aware of the difficulties, has put its main swordsmen, Microsoft president Brad Smith and Xbox boss Phil Spencer, in charge of the operation, who have spent the past months trying to convince competitors and antitrust regulators. He also made a unilateral decision to “sweeten” the merger, unilaterally extending the Call of Duty license agreement for three years, promising to keep the franchise on Steam, and offering Nintendo and Sony a long-term (10-year) contract for the main franchise of the operation.

Microsoft has reached an agreement with Nintendo and the approval of most of the regulatory authorities of the market, including the European Union, China or Japan. but others are missing, the US FTC and the UK CMA as the main ones, as well as Sony among the competitors. This week’s court decision is an honor for Microsoft by establishing that the FTC “It failed to demonstrate the harm that this operation could cause to consumers or substantially restrict competition”.

Activision Blizzard Kind, is there a case after the verdict?

The arguments presented by the FTC are unknown, as what has been seen so far has been more about pre-blocking than the underlying issue, but with this view on the table, most analysts believe that the court battle has made little progress. In fact, in light of the punishment, Microsoft reached an agreement with the other wayward regulator, the UK’s CMA, to suspend the legal battle and open talks to resolve their disputes.

If the appeals court does not extend the blocking order, it could theoretically allow Microsoft to officially close the deal to buy Activision Blizzard. before the July 18 deadline where if it doesn’t materialize, it will force the software giant to pay $3,000 million. And that’s before the official and administrative opinion of the FTC, which has not yet been published.

Of course, Microsoft is pushing with a court decision that could be pivotal. “The district court’s decision makes it clear that this acquisition is good for competition and consumers”assured Brad Smith without missing the opportunity to give the regulator a touch: “We are disappointed that the FTC is continuing to pursue what has become a demonstrably weak case, and we will oppose any further efforts to delay the ability to move forward.”.

We will see what happens. You already know my personal opinion. This type of merger, which concentrates so much power in the same hands, never they never benefit consumers. And this is true in this case as well as in another of the big operations that was – thankfully – blocked, the purchase of ARM by NVIDIA. There are dozens of examples of this type of concentration. Look at Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram, which ultimately turned the current Meta into a behemoth.

Another thing is that in this capitalist world, Microsoft has every right to buy what they can afford. Sony’s claims have little support given the exclusivity it holds and unless market regulators can prove the merger “significantly reduce competition” the case will be over. We’ll talk about its consequences in a few years…