The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finally dropped its opposition to a huge gaming acquisition by tech giant Microsoft.
The US FTC order on Thursday revealed the agency had decided following a legal setback, that its pursuit of its complaint against Microsoft’s long closed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is “not in the public interest.”
It comes after the FTC had lost an appeal on 7 May seeking to reverse a judge’s decision declining to block the Microsoft-Activision deal, the biggest-ever for the gaming industry.
FTC case dropped
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that the FTC had not successfully argued several points of its case for a preliminary injunction against the merger.
Therefore the FTC opted to finally drop its case against the deal.
“The Commission has determined that the public interest is best served by dismissing the administrative litigation in this case. Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the Complaint in this matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed,” the FTC order states.
The FTC had initially asked an administrative judge to block the transaction back in December 2022.
Fast forward to 2025 and the FTC under chairman Andrew Ferguson is reportedly seeking to use the agency’s resources for cases that fits with President Donald Trump’s agenda, such as a probe related to whether advertisers colluded to spend less on X.
The FTC’s decision was warmly welcomed by Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith in a tweet on X (formerly Twitter).
“Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, D.C. We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement,” Smith tweeted.
Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, D.C. We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement. https://t.co/nnmUI76q0l pic.twitter.com/KgLxhZppx3
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) May 22, 2025
UK opposition
The United Kingdom’s competition regulator had arguably provided the most intense opposition to the deal, as well as the biggest headache for Redmond.
It should be remembered that Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard had closed in October 2023, only after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had given its final clearance.
Earlier that year the UK’s CMA had officially blocked the acquisition, citing potential harm to the nascent market for cloud gaming.
That April 2023 decision had prompted an angry war of words between Microsoft and the British regulator, and Microsoft’s Brad Smith said the CMA move was “bad for Britain” and marked Microsoft’s “darkest day” in its four decades of working in the UK.”
Microsoft’s Smith even met with the UK’s then Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in London for talks over the matter.
Meanwhile the CMA chief executive was forced to defend the April 2023 veto on the deal before Parliament, after Brad Smith’s comments.
In the end the CMA forced Microsoft to pledge it would not acquire cloud rights for existing Activision PC and console games, or for new games released by Activision during the next 15 years in order to win the UK approval.
Microsoft had earlier in 2023 agreed to a 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on rival platforms such as Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo.
After approving the deal, the UK’s CMA had also reprimanded Microsoft for its behaviour during the acquisition.
“Businesses and their advisors should be in no doubt that the tactics employed by Microsoft are no way to engage with the CMA,” said CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell, in reference to Microsoft’s conduct during the CMA’s investigation.
